Removal of cross on seal stands (Los Angeles)

[Khephra]

Removal of cross on seal stands

By Troy Anderson, Staff Writer

Despite passionate pleas from an overflow crowd of 2,000, Los Angeles County's Board of Supervisors refused Tuesday to back down on their decision to remove a tiny Christian cross on the official seal because of a legal threat from the ACLU.

The 3-2 vote came only hours after a private legal foundation filed a lawsuit against the county in federal court in Los Angeles, seeking to prevent the removal of the cross which was part of a design adopted nearly 50 years ago.

The standing-room-only audience - the largest crowd to attend a county supervisors' meeting in recent decades - included people of many faiths and some who espoused no faith. They were united in opposing removal of the cross. Some held signs that read "Jews for the L.A. County Seal," "Buddhists for the Seal" and "Stop the ACLU Nazis."

"This is a religious frenzy," said Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who voted with Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina to uphold the board's decision of last week to negotiate a solution acceptable to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

more...............

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/Stories/0,1413,206~22097~2201125,00.html

[DaveSZ]

1. LOL

Sometimes the ACLU goes too far, and they look foolish.

I'm glad they're there though.

[msmcghee]

2. Do you mean that . .

. . in their effort to preserve your freedoms under the Bill of Rights and Constitution, they sometimes disturb an element of your own personal world view - and not that of someone else's?

:eyes:

[Sabriel]

6. Yes, going too far

Just like using gender-free language "goes too far," and making sure that people have equal protection under the law "goes too far," and allowing people like my sister to marry her life partner "goes too far."

Thank goodness for foolish organizations like the ACLU and the NAACP and GLSEN and all those other ridiculous misguided folks....

Sabriel

[realisticphish]

3. but....

While I agree that this is a lot of hoopla over a tiny little cross on a seal, that doesn't change the fact that it IS a violation of Constitutional rights (or, if you don't want to go that far, could be construed as a violation). Major losses of freedom rarely come in huge chunks; it happens bit by bit, in tiny little packets that the mainstream considers to be unworthy of action.

[newyawker99]

17. Hi realisticphish!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[realisticphish]

20. Thanks

Thank you; it's nice to be on a forum where they don't treat newbies like scum

[Joanne98]

4. The fundies can go straight to Hell

When the people of this country find out what their secret agenda looks like they're going to want to lynch them. It's just a matter of time. The Jesus fascist movement is OVER.

[pansypoo53219]

5. but but but

this is the nly thing preventing the 'big one' from happening.

[DaveSZ]

8. I agree with this decision

I agree with the decision, however minor or tiny this cross may be.

I simply feel that the ACLU should use their limited resources on fighting the "Patriot Act," etc.

Justice Kennedy said it best:


"The Establishment Clause was inspired by the lesson that in the hands of government what might begin as a tolerant expression of religious views may end in a policy to indoctrinate and coerce."

[DBoon]

7. It ought to go

It isn't an incidental reference to a historical event - on the county seal, it has nothing to do with the Spanish missions.

The cross is placed right over an icon for the Hollywood Bowl, with two small stars on the other side of the bowl. This is very obviously a reference to the Easter sunrise services at the bowl.

A specific (and very well known) event of regular religious observance is on a government emblem. While not very eye-catching, it still must go.

[arwalden]

9. The ACLU Is Correct... The Christian Symbol Must Go

[lostnfound]

21. Hey, isn't that COW some kind of HINDU symbol??? And who is the goddess?

Is she a Greek goddess? some symbol of a PAGAN religion maybe..?

Symbols have some complicated history and as some wise man (or woman) once said, 'if you try to pick up any one thing, you find out it's hitched to everything else in the universe'.

[FlaGranny]

10. Why do some Christians want

graven images everywhere, is what I'd like to know. Are they so insecure about their religion that it must be advertised like Coca Cola for all to see? Why are they worshipping graven images anyway? I thought that God had something to say about images.

[JI7]

11. they can put the religious symbols on their own private property

[kskiska]

12. Wherever this story appears

the adjective "tiny" appears before "cross."

[henslee]

13. Why the heck is the "Hollywood Bowl" even on the state seal?

Replace it with the Sequoias.

[MisterP]

22. Los Angeles, not California, seal

[shrike]

14. Does this mean the Goddess has to go, too?

[henslee]

18. Not a goddess. It's a stripper, starlet bimbo.

[shrike]

25. Looks like a Goddess to me; grains, halo, etc.

[JayS]

15. Why did they put crosses on seal stands in the first place?

It is not like the seals care one way or the other.

[joefree1]

16. FUNDIE ALERT: Los Angeles Times has different view

The article you quoted forgot to mention that the demonstration was organized by a local fundie station. Here's part of the LA Times article:
The demonstration was led by Dennis Prager, a conservative talk show host on KRLA-AM (870), who has been talking about the supervisors' decision for days. As he approached the podium to address the supervisors, audience members leapt to their feet and cheered.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/los_angeles_metro/la-me-supes9jun09,1,4233809.story?coll=la-commun-los_angeles_metro

Those fundies and their media backers are so sneaky.

June 5 Anti-war March in LA images here:
http://ediablo.com/LAprotest6-5-04.html

[jdj]

23. They lied on their signs, too. How Christian.

I don't believe they had Jewish and Buddhist people protesting with them.

Maybe pre-Passion, but not now thanks to Mel and the Pentacostal preacher. There's no way a Buddhist would get up and protest about this, this is so reactionary only fundies would do it.

The more stuff that happens like this the better, the more transparent they get, the better.

In my hometown about a decade ago, we had a gay pride march that drew about 1,500 marchers. The next weekend they held a so-called "family values march" that had about 15,000 marchers. But the weird thing was, as soon as it was over, poof, they were gone, they got on buses and disappeared, so they were probably bussed in from all the hick towns within a 200 mile radius.

[TexasMexican]

19. This is pretty bad.

So much for history.

[DaveSZ]

24. Here's the freeper thread

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1150410/posts

[Darranar]

26. The cross is a symbol of Christianity...

that does not belong on a government's official seal.

This decision is right, as is the ACLU campaign.