Giant cross monument must be removed from Southern California mountain

A giant cross monument that has stood atop a mountain in San Diego must be removed because it violates the separation of church and state, a judge said.

The 43-foot tall cross stands on Mt. Soledad in San Diego and there have been legal battles over its status dating back to 1989. According to CNN, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns gave the city 90 days to remove it, although if there is an appeal, it could stay up during that process.

Back in 1954, the cross was first put up to honor veterans of the Korean War. However, in 1989, two veterans of the war filed a lawsuit, claiming it was in violation of California’s “No Preference” clause in the state constitution. Then, the city tried to sell the land to the Mount Soledad Memorial Association in an effort to keep the monument up, although those attempts were stopped in court.

According to the New York Times, the federal government later took ownership of the land in 2006, claiming eminent domain to try to save the monument again. In 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said it violated the First Amendment, though and the Supreme court opted not to hear the case.

“This is a win for religious liberty,” Daniel Mach of the ACLU said after Thursday’s ruling. “The government can and should honor those who served and died for this country, but not by playing favorites with faiths.”

image: Wikimedia Commons