19 October 2006
(cnsnews.com) The decision by Los Angeles County officials to remove the small cross from the county's official seal has triggered a lawsuit. It was filed Tuesday by the Thomas More Law
(cnsnews.com) The decision by Los Angeles County officials to remove the small cross from the county's official seal has triggered a lawsuit. It was filed Tuesday by the Thomas More Law...(CNSNews.com) - The decision by Los Angeles County officials to remove the small cross from the county's official seal has triggered a lawsuit. It was filed Tuesday by the Thomas More Law Center in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
The decision to remove the cross from the seal was made in June of 2004 after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue the L.A. County supervisors because of their use of a Christian symbol.
"If you look at the seal itself, you will see a lot of different symbols displaying the history of L.A. County," said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel for the Thomas More Law Center.
"Whether it's the movie industry, the space industry, the oil industry, the agriculture industry; all of those industries had various symbols in that seal, which displayed some historical connection with the County of L.A.," Thompson said. "As did the cross. The cross was displaying the history of the missions that came through L.A. It was not in any way meant to coerce or force or establish some kind of county religion."
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors consists of: Gloria Molina, Yvonne B. Burke, Zev Yarloslavsky, Don Knabe and Mayor Michael D. Antonovich. None could be reached by Cybercast News Service except for a spokesman for Antonovich.
Tony Bell, press secretary for Antonovich, who was in court Tuesday, explained that when the board of supervisors amended the county seal two years ago, two members of the board voted against it -- Antonovich and Knabe. "They voted against changing the seal and were adamantly opposed to changing it," Bell said.
The lawsuit is based on the alleged violation of the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the government's establishment of religion, but also protects the free exercise of religion.
"Our position is that, by removing the cross, they showed a disapproval of religion, including Christianity. That disapproval, that hostility towards Christianity, violates the Establishment Clause which has been interpreted that not only must government not promote religion, but it must also not be hostile toward religion," stated Thompson.
"Targeting that small cross, we believe, is hostility towards religion and therefore, the decision of the board of supervisors is unconstitutional and should be rescinded, and the cross should be placed back on the county seal," Thompson added.
"It's a 50-year-old seal, mind you, and they hadn't had a problem with it for 50 years. Then, all of a sudden, they did," said Bell.
"What are we going to have next? Are they going to ask that Los Angeles change its name? Or San Francisco change its name or Corpus Christi change its name because it has religious significance? I think it's time for there to be some sense in the way the Establishment Clause is read, not only by the ACLU, but by court officials." Thompson concluded.
Telephone calls to the Los Angeles chapter of the American Civil Liberties were not returned on Tuesday.
17:43 Posted in UNITED STATES | Permalink | Comments (1) | 
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my beloved ones,flee from idolatry.....an idol is an image or symbol that is an object of intense devotion,venerion,or worship.
ex. 20:4,5 notice here,that God commanded that his people not even make an image before which people would bow down.
IN this HOUSE WE serve GOD,NO idols or SYMBOLS
Source(s):
bible...How would u feel if one of ur dearest friends was executed on the basis of false charges?would u make a replica of the instrument of execution?
The shape of the two-beamed cross had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the Phoenician diety "Tammuz," a pagan god (being the first letter ' t ' of his name) see also Eze. 9:12-15 and Strong's #8542.
In the third century AD, pagans were received into the apostate Roman ecclesiastical system and were permitted to retain many of their pagan signs and symbols to increase Church membership.
According to The Companion Bible, and other excellent references, crosses were also used as symbols of the Babylonian Sun-god. These crosses are many times displayed as a cross below a circle, or shown as a cross within a circle. These symbols are all of pagan origin, and are NOT Christian. The evidence is complete; the Messiah was put to death upon an upright stake, not on two pieces of timber placed at an angle.
There is hardly a Pagan tribe where the cross has not been found.
Posted by: Crosscutter 1 | 20 October 2006
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