When I was younger my older sister would take me on midnight drives down the coast, inevitably ending up at the beautiful view from Mount Soledad.  Mount Soledad has a 29-foot Easter Cross on public land in the United States.  For twenty years courts have been debating its constitutionality and over this last week Judge M. Margaret McKeown ruled the cross unconstitutional for endorsing one religion (Christianity) over others (or at all).  The United States Courts of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit issued a 51-page opinion where they analyze the history of the cross controversy and their ruling on it.  They interestingly point out how, in spite of its 67 year history, the cross only began to be adorned with War Memorial decorations during the 1990’s, in response to litigation against it.

I suggest reading the opinion, because it is a tour-de-force on religion and law and it makes a strong case for First Amendment rights.  It strikes me, as someone raised in Southern California, that the clashes of religion and law are galvanized in a radically diverse and culturally “mixed” society.  These clashes are interestingly left out of a seminal article on religion in Southern California called: “Pluralism as a Culture,” by Wade Clark Roof.  This happens in many theologically liberal projects: their zeal for pluralism often blinds them from the “zero-sum” religious conflicts taking place minute by minute.  While I agree with a certain form of pluralism, I cannot accept a pluralism that “glosses over” or “refuses to emphasize” the very real and very brutal religious conflicts happening around us.  Shoot towards the ideal, without ignoring the real.

The balance between Freedom of and Freedom from religion is what the ACLU aims for, even if it sometimes misses the mark.  In this case, I think that the ACLU acted in accord with the First Amendment.  They give their own justification for arguing against the constitutionality of the Mount Soledad cross on their website.  If only this kind of ruling would spread across the Country, liberating those who have lived under a government that has taken 230 years to begin shedding its religious skin.