Maybe they should lose the fish too
Posted on 05/25/2004 8:39:47 AM PDT by StoneColdGOP
Nearly half a century after Los Angeles County adopted an official seal with a tiny cross in it, the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter declared it unconstitutional and threatened on Monday to sue to have it removed.
The ACLU Southern California chapter said the "Latin cross" on the seal is a "sectarian religious symbol" and reflects an "impermissible endorsement of Christianity."
The seal was adopted 47 years ago but the ACLU never challenged it. The organization said its complaint was prompted by phone calls it received after the city of Redlands recently agreed to remove a cross from the city seal.
The letter to the county is similar to one the ACLU sent to Redlands.
"Los Angeles County is the most diverse county in the United States, and if the city of Redlands decided it had to do something, we think the county of Los Angeles should also," ACLU Executive Director Ramona Ripston said.
Douglas W. Kmiec, chairman and professor of constitutional law at the Pepperdine University School of Law, said there is little in U.S. Supreme Court precedents that would "demand such erasure of history."
"I think this is unfortunately an all-too-commonplace effort to revise history and to expunge from the historical record all evidence of religious belief," Kmiec said. "It would be hard, it seems to me, to conclude that anyone seeing the seal of Los Angeles County would feel coerced to believe in a particular religious faith."
The county seal was designed by former county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, the father of Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn, and was adopted by the Board of Supervisors on March 1, 1957.
The cross represents the influence of the church and the history of the missions of California, which dates back to the 1700s when missions were built in San Fernando and San Gabriel, according to the county's Web site.
Mayor Hahn stands by the seal and is disappointed by the ACLU's threats that the cross should be eliminated, said his spokeswoman Shannon Murphy. She said it represents a cross at the Pilgrimage Theater, near the Hollywood Bowl, and that the mayor believes it is an important part of Los Angeles history.
County spokeswoman Judy Hammond said removing it would cost "untold thousands and thousands of dollars" because the seal is on many of the county's 5,000 buildings, thousands of vehicles, stationery, business cards, plaques, flags and Internet sites.
Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich wrote in a letter to Ripston that her letter was "right out of a George Orwell novel. Your failure to understand the history and to rewrite it from the so-called political correctness follows the hate of past book burners."
"To say Christians have no rights and we are not a part of the history of this county is offensive to us who are Christians," said Pastor Stan Lubeck of the Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth.
The ACLU can go to hell, whether they believe in it or not.
Might as well rename the county too. Any county name referring to angels has to be offending to someone.
Somebody building a mosque nearby?
Collectively,perhaps, the ACLU might go to hell. The Bible says every knee will bow. They will confess (too late) they were wrong to try to obliterate God from public eye.
"Might as well rename the county too. Any county name referring to angels has to be offending to someone."
What next, demanding that San Diego and San Francisco be renamed?
If so, I have a suggestion. How about Soddom and Gomorrah?
Maybe they should lose the fish too
Hell, you'd have to rename probably 70% of EVERYTHING in California, and the entire Southwest U.S. to boot.
I believe in the separation of church and state, but the ACLU has only one agenda: eliminate all traces of Christianity from public view. Who cares about a cross when there are PUBLIC SCHOOLS teaching kids verses from the Koran and letting them celebrate Islamic holidays?? What a bunch of hypocrites.
Just damn.
From the LA County web site description of the seal at http://lacounty.info/seal.htm:
The Goddess Pomona – the goddess of gardens and fruit trees – is holding in her arms a sheaf of grain, an orange, a lemon, an avocado and a few grapes to represent Los Angeles County’s agriculture.
She stands on the shore of the Pacific Ocean with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background.
The engineering instruments – the triangle and the caliper – relate to the industrial construction complex of the County and Los Angeles’ vital contribution to the conquest of space.
The Spanish galleon is the San Salvador, which Cabrillo sailed into San Pedro Harbor on October 8, 1542.
The tuna represents the fishing industry of Los Angeles County, and the championship cow, Pearlette, represents the dairy industry.
The Hollywood Bowl indicates the cultural activities, while the two stars represent the County’s motion picture and television industries.
The cross represents the influence of the church and the missions of California.
Oil derricks are symbolic of the oil fields that were discovered on Signal Hill.
The words “County of Los Angeles California” surround the seal.
(The County seal was designed by former Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, drawn by Millard Sheets and adopted by the Board of Supervisors March 1, 1957.)
I agree with Michael Savage. Liberalism is a mental disorder.
Dont the idiots have ANYTHING better to do with their efforts then silly crap like this? Unbelievable.
This is why the ACLU has made themselves irrelevant and largely ignored by the general population. They are on the way of becoming as significant as N.O.W. Good riddance.
We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure and erpetuate its blessings, do establish this Constitution.
The ACLU can go fly a kite.
Yep. They don't have a problem with the Goddess Pomona, who dominates the seal, but they do have a problem with the tiny cross...
I know this country is big and laws in various areas diverse but how can the disgusting ACLU reconcile the banishment of all things Christian in public and promote religious diversity (ala Islam) all in the same breath?? EVERYone can see it, why doesn't anyone stand up to them and do something about it? Can someone sue the ACLU? LOL?
And take the angeles out of the city name.
I am going to build a time machine. My intention is to send the ACLU back to 14th century Spain where it can plead for the separation of Church and State then I'll sell the highlights of the trail and punishment on video and DVD.
Also, that goddess representing bounty or whatever should be removed to... since I am Catholic, that pagan mythological goddess is offensive to me.
Oh, and that cow... the cow could be mistakenly viewed as the Golden Calf idol, so it too should be removed so as to not offend Jewish residents.
And those stars.... could be seen as a Jewish symbol. Best to take it down so as to not offend the Muslims.
How soon until they proclaim the constitution itself is unconstitutional?
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