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Municipalities are really going to have to choose their poison. Which do you want to do? Do you want to just offend the ACLU or do you want to offend Christians? If your actions are conveying a message that is offensive to Christians and violates the Establishment Clause, then watch out, because you could subject yourselves to a lawsuit from that end.

Do you think this case is possibly precedent-setting?

I think in some respects it is. And the context of this particular case is important because that symbol, as it stands, is constitutional. Any legal scholar who would view [the cross] objectively would say that this does not convey an impermissible state-sponsored message of religion. However, by their actions, now [supervisors] are conveying an impermissible state-sponsored message that is hostile towards Christians. So, in this context, I think it is unique. [I hope] it will establish a precedent and prevent the ACLU from their systematic removal of Christianity from the public square across the country, which appears to have been their goal, as you can see from the cases that they're taking.

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Other coverage of the cross controversy includes:

Protesters rally for county seal cross | More than 700 people packed the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday to chastise lawmakers for voting to erase a small cross from the county's official seal (Los Angeles Times)

Crosses on seals stir controversy | The ACLU has prompted two governmental bodies to drop the symbols (The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Ca.)

Secularism gone awry in battle over LA's seal | While I am disturbed by recent attempts to turn "secularism" -- the principle that religious beliefs should not be imposed on public policy -- into a dirty word, this is precisely the kind of thing that gives secularism a bad name (Cathy Young, The Boston Globe)

Tiny symbol, huge fuss | Until last week, who besides the ACLU's lawyers and a handful of bureaucrats even knew that Los Angeles County's seal incorporates an itsy-bitsy cross, along with a Spanish galleon, a tuna, the Hollywood Bowl, oil derricks, a Roman goddess of fruit and more? (Editorial, Los Angeles Times)

A symbol of our history -- not a seal of approval for a religion | The First Amendment allows us to appreciate faith's role in our history as we avoid improper favoritism among different traditions (Douglas W. Kmiec, Los Angeles Times)

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June (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48