Politics & Government
Liberty Institute Releases Music Video Regarding the Fight for the Cross at Mt. Soledad
The cross atop Mount Soledad is the center of attention for a national campaign – "Don't Tear Me Down" – to save religions imagery at veteran memorials.
The Liberty Institute, who filed a U.S. Supreme Court appeal of the “unconstitutional” ruling of the Mt. Soledad cross, released a music video, titled Don’t Tear Me Down, on Memorial Day.
The legan nonprofit said the video by artist Jon Christopher Davis (lyricist for Dolly Parton and Billy Ray Cyrus) “embodies the spirit of the movement to save America’s veterans memorials that contain religious imagery from being torn down by the ACLU and other atheist groups.”
“The ACLU is so driven to purge religious displays from the public square that they are continuing their attack against the unlikeliest of victims – the veterans and the memorials they built to honor their own,” said Kelly Shackelford, Liberty Institute President and CEO, in a release last week. “We believe, if The Supreme Court grants our appeal and agrees to hear the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Cross case, they will rule once and for all that these veterans memorials should be exempt from the ongoing culture war over religious imagery in public displays.”
Find out what's happening in La Jollawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The legal battle over the cross atop Mt. Soledad is decades long. Supporters say the cross is part of a war memorial. Opponents say it unconstitutionally favors a religion on federal property. The land underneath the cross – part of a memorial originally dedicated to those killed in the Korean War – has been under federal control since 2006.
In February, the Liberty Institute, representing the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association, filed an appeal to the Supreme Court. In March, the U.S. Solicitor General’s office joined in the appeal.
Find out what's happening in La Jollawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Liberty Institute is also representing the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial at the U.S. Supreme Court and for the Big Mountain Jesus Statue in Montana.
The Don’t Tear Me Down video was filmed at the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial, Houston National Cemetery and San Jacinto Monument in Houston, Texas.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
