Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Controversy Ends after 25 Years

Veterans memorial symbolized debate over keeping crosses public by neutering their religious meaning.

The quarter-century controversy over the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial has finally ended, after the US Department of Defense sold the government land on which the 29-foot cross stood.

Judges have disagreed over how emblematic the San Diego memorial really was of Christianity.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals referred to the cross as a “distinctively Christian symbol” in its 2011 ruling that the memorial was unconstitutional. It sided with opponents who argued the cross signified “that Jesus is the Son of God and died to redeem mankind.”

A few of the Veterans recognition plaques on the Mount 

Soledad Veterans Memorial.

In contrast, US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia suggested “the cross was a war memorial,” maintaining that it was “outrageous” to conclude that the only dead veterans it honored were Christians. The high court has twice refused to review the case.

CT previously examined the Supreme Court's tangled view of public crosses, and noted the range of perspectives among Christian lawyers and scholars on whether memorial crosses should be neutered of religious meaning in order to preserve their public presence. Rhode Island even attempted to determine which public crosses were "sufficiently secular."

Supporters of the memorial celebrated the sale.

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