Easter On Mount Soledad

Easter Sunrise Greeted By Separationists

by David C. Noelle

Northwest of downtown San Diego, California, looms Mount Soledad - an
expansive hill which rewards the climber with a panoramic view of the
Northern reaches of the city.  To the North lay the beautiful beaches
of La Jolla and the blue Pacific.  To the South may be seen the
glittering skyscrapers of the city, the waterways of the San Diego
bay, and the huge arching bridge to Coronado.  The Eastern view
reveals lush green canyons and mountains in the distance.  Atop Mount
Soledad is a public park, making this wondrous vista available to
every citizen ... every <EM>Christian</EM> citizen, anyway.

<P>

<A HREF="soledad.gif">
<IMG SRC="soledad.gif" WIDTH=156 HEIGHT=207 ALIGN="right"
     ALT="[Photo Of The Cross]"></A>

In the middle of the park stands a huge, white, Latin cross, visible
from the beaches and canyons below.  The location of this cross has
been a gathering place for Easter worship services for over 70 years.
The cross itself was constructed and dedicated with Easter sunrise
events in mind.  Despite its clearly Christian nature and purpose,
this monument has been supported on public land by city funds for
decades.

<P>

Several years ago, this clear violation of the First Amendment's
establishment clause was challenged in the courts by two brave San
Diego citizens.  Howard Kreisner of the Atheist Coalition and Philip
Paulson of the Humanist Association of San Diego both sued the city
over the cross.  With legal help from Dr. Peter Irons, a
Constitutional lawyer who also teaches political science at the
University of California, San Diego, the two plaintiffs managed to
convince the court that the cross must be removed from public land.
The city appealed this decision, and the appeals court reiterated the
need to remove the cross.  The Supreme Court refused to hear the
city's subsequent appeal.

<P>

Ignoring the court's order, the City of San Diego sold a tiny plot of
land around the cross to a private organization, the Mount Soledad
Memorial Association, for a ridiculously small sum.  This blatant
attempt to avoid the judgement of the court is currently being
challenged, with the next hearing scheduled for early May.

<P>

Last February, in the midst of this legal battle, Dr. Irons visited
the local parks department to see if the Mount Soledad Memorial
Association had acquired a permit to use the park this Easter.  To his
surprise, he discovered that no permit had been requested, and,
indeed, such a permit had not been issued to the Memorial Association
to conduct their Christian worship services for years.  It was simply
<EM>assumed</EM> by the city that the park would be reserved for these
services.  Seizing a rare opportunity, Dr. Irons immediately made
application for use of the park on Easter morning.  In the
"organization" blank of the application, Dr. Irons listed the Atheist
Coalition, despite the fact that he considers himself a practicing
Christian.  Several weeks later, the Atheist Coalition membership
voted nearly unanimously to support Dr. Irons' Easter morning event.
This support was offered even though many members of the Coalition had
already made plans to attend a national atheists convention in the
Midwest on that weekend.

<P>

Under the guidance of Dr. Irons and activist Craig Kelso, the theme
for the Easter morning event became "The Park Belongs to Everyone".  A
program of speakers was assembled from San Diego's diverse religious
and non-religious minority groups.  The message went out that this
secular celebration was to welcome <EM>all</EM> citizens, without
concern for convictions or beliefs.  This open invitation did not
appeal to the local media, which chose instead to cast this gathering
as a battle between atheists and Christians.  The local newspapers
contained frequent stories and editorials on the usurpation of this
sacred ground by the childish and mean spirited atheists.  The San
Diego Memorial Association refused to join in the celebration, opting
to reserve the park for Memorial Day, instead.  One San Diego City
Councilman, who also happens to be a Baptist preacher, reserved the
park for the hour <EM>preceding</EM> the Atheist Coalition Easter
event, but front page headlines soon thereafter declared that God
himself had told this distinguished gentleman to withdraw his
reservation.

<P>

Many people climbed Mount Soledad on the morning of April 7th.  With
sleep still in their eyes from the reinstantiation of daylight savings
time, people were forced by limited parking space to climb to the top
of the hill on foot.  Arriving in darkness, members of the "The Park
Belongs to Everyone" committee quitely set up for their event while
television cameras captured the wild circus of street preachers and
angry Christian banner wavers which pranced about the cross.  As the
sun crept above the mountains, the celebration of freedom and
diversity began.

<P>

Dr. Irons and Craig Kelso welcomed the crowd, which numbered between
200 and 300.  The sound of their voices over the P.A. system was heard
by the demonstrators at the nearby cross, and a parade of banner
toting crusaders marched towards the podium.  The motley crew of
anti-separationists included several bible thumpers shouting
hallelujahs, a mock Jesus bearing a large wooden cross and receiving
flogging by a woman wearing bunny-rabbit make-up, and a collection of
young muscular men wearing clothing reminiscent of inner city street
gangs, chanting "It's the blood that sets me free".

<P>

The disruption was significant, but the separationists went on.  Scott
Nailor, speaking on behalf of the Atheist Coalition, shouted out his
piece, ignoring the drone of the protesters behind him.  Television
cameras ignored his words and focused instead on any interaction that
showed promise of escalating into violence.  Brave freethinkers and
other separationists stepped forward to quietly interpose their bodies
between the protesters and the speakers.  Then, as if out of nowhere,
several uniformed officers of the San Diego Police Department appeared
and calmly enforced the park permit granted to Dr. Irons.  The
Christian protesters were directed to keep their distance, and their
shouts and chants slowly died down to an occasional heckling.

<P>

JoAnne Harrison, speaking for the local wiccans, related the pagan
history of Easter.  She was followed by the Reverend Tom Owen-Towle of
the First Unitarian Universalist Church.  A musical interlude was then
provided by Vincent Clarke, an amiable elderly trombonist who had
played in years past for the Christian services held on Mount Soledad.
On this occasion, Mr. Clarke entertained the crowd with a selection of
secular show tunes.  The crowd joined in, clapping and singing along.

<P>

After the music, Alan Mandelberg of the Humanist Fellowship of San
Diego approached the podium and called attention to the trend towards
secularization in our world, praising the democratic principles which
allowed diversity of opinion to thrive.  Speaking for the
<A HREF="/users/dnoelle/sandash/">San Diego Association of Secular
Humanists</A>, David Noelle <A HREF="civil.html">answered some of the
anti-separationist attacks which had appeared in the press</A>.  The
Reverend Dr. Dusty Pruitt, pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church
(a Christian church appealing to the gay and lesbian population of San
Diego), spoke next.  She reviled the Christian protesters, offering a
view of Christianity consistent with First Amendment concerns.

<P>

Finally, Dr. Peter Irons addressed the crowd.  He reviewed the history
of the recent cross litigation and called upon the city government to
recognize the diversity of its constituency.  He bemoaned the way in
which the media had focused on and hoped for confrontation and
conflict at this event, and he rejoiced in how peaceful and civil this
diverse Easter morning gathering had been.  He extended warm words of
gratitude to the supportive crowd and also to the Christian protesters
who had actually stayed to hear all of the speakers.

<P>

After taking in a final scan of the breath-taking view, the crowd
descended.  There was no way to predict how the press would report
this event, or how the courts would respond to it.  Still, one thing
was sure.  The religious and non-religious minorities of San Diego had
stood together and insisted that their city grant them - <EM>all of
them</EM> - their full rights under the law.

(end of forwarded article)

John B. Hodges, jbhodges@bev.net
Do Justice, Love Mercy, and Be Irreverent.
