Letters: A cross -- and so much more

Re “A new court loss for hilltop cross in San Diego,” Dec. 14

If the non-Christian communities do not wish to honor their soldiers in the manner the Christian community does for theirs, it is their prerogative and they are free to memorialize their fallen in any manner they choose.

All of those who made the supreme sacrifice did not do so in a private war but in conflicts fought on behalf of the nation as called upon by their government. It is only fitting that they be honored on the land — like the publicly owned land on which the Mt. Soledad cross sits — that they so gallantly defended.

It is not a question of constitutional correctness; rather, it is an act by which we give our sincere thanks to those who fell in battle so that we may live as free men.

John T. Kirages

Arcadia

Of course the giant cross looming over San Diego is an inappropriate endorsement of Christianity. The legal mental gymnastics that folks there have been using for years to deny this can be exposed with one simple test:

Replace the cross with a giant star of David, statue of Buddha or star and crescent, and see how Christians feel living under someone else’s religious symbol.

Christians shouldn’t worry. Should they lose their appeal on the court order to remove the cross from public property, I’m sure they can find some tax-exempt church property on which to erect it.

James Underdown

Los Angeles

The writer is the executive director of the Center for Inquiry-Los Angeles.

I first discovered the cross atop Mt. Soledad more than 40 years ago while I was a young Marine at Camp Pendleton. I found it a place for peaceful contemplation and respectful remembrance of those who never came home.

All these years later, it stirs the same emotions when I visit the Veterans Affairs hospital in La Jolla and see the cross clearly silhouetted on the nearby mountaintop.

I am at a loss to understand the emotions of those who somehow feel threatened by a simple acknowledgment of our fallen veterans of all faiths and beliefs.

Michael Murphy

San Pedro

I am an Army veteran and a non-Christian. As such, a Christian cross cannot represent me any more than a Muslim crescent could represent a Christian veteran.

Why can’t we have secular veterans’ memorials that represent all veterans?

Charles Wilson

Oxnard

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