Hilltop Crosses

Having talked to literally hundreds of people about the issue since 1988, I have no doubt that upward of 90% of San Diego’s citizens support our Mt. Helix and Mt. Soledad landmarks, and support them being on public property.

Of course, Howard Kreisner and his small band of atheists claim that the Constitution does not provide for a popularity contest in matters of this sort. Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. must also have known on which side the public sentiment would be, yet felt compelled to protect the rights of the minority, as he viewed those rights.

In his 1967 book, “Religion in a Free Society,” self-described secularist Sidney Hook denounced those who consistently look to the courts for the answers to church-state conflicts rather “. . . than to the outcome of the democratic process in their local and state communities. . . . I believe this is a shortsighted strategy. It puts faith in the wrong place-in the uncertainties of judicial appointment and the vagaries of judicial reasoning. . . . It prejudices the growth of rational sentiments in the community on which . . . a healthy democratic society must rely (in the long run.)”

Many may view Hook’s reasoning as something that could weaken the constitution; who knows if it could ever get a fair hearing. In the meantime, the huge majority of us that support symbols of our history and cultural heritage on public land have no choice but to use the system to appeal the attacks against us. After all, the atheists are certainly using the system.

Privatization of the land on which the crosses stand should be a last resort, and only if the appeal process does not work. By being privately owned, the crosses would be saved, but it would also be “admitting” that they do not belong on public land. Many believe the Supreme Court would find these symbols constitutional for a simple reason. By viewing them, no one is coerced into believing anything they would rather not, therefore the landmarks do not constitute “an establishment of religion,” as clearly stated in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

BARRY JANTZ, Councilman, La Mesa