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The Mount Soledad Cross is a prominent landmark located on top of Mount Soledad in the La Jolla neighborhood of the city of San Diego, California. The present structure was erected in 1954; it is the third Christian cross in that location, the first having been put up in 1913.〔Randal C. Archibold, ''High on a Hill Above San Diego, a Church-State Fight Plays Out'', The New York Times, October 1, 2005, p. 9.〕 Architect Donald Campbell designed the present cross in recessed concrete. It is tall (43 feet tall including the base) with a arm spread. Beginning in 1989, almost ten years before the immediate area around the cross was turned into a war memorial, and ongoing to the present, the Mt. Soledad Cross had been involved in a continuous litigation regarding its legal status. The cross's opponents claim it is illegal to display a religious symbol, such as a Christian cross, on public land, as it demonstrates preference to a specific religion and thus violates the separation of church and state as they interpret it in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the No Preference Clause of the California Constitution. Judges have sided with plaintiffs on multiple occasions and ruled that the cross is illegal and had to be removed or sold to the highest bidder. Defenders of the cross explored several options for preserving the cross. In 1998 the City of San Diego sold the cross and the land it stands on to the nonprofit Mount Soledad Memorial Association, and the cross was transformed into being the centerpiece of a newly erected Korean War Memorial. The land under the cross was eventually transferred to the federal government. So far, the courts have decided, even if the transfer itself is legal, it does not solve the fundamental problem of the argument that the cross is not legal on any government-owned property. In 2011 a federal court found the cross unconstitutional, and in 2012 the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal, returning the issue to federal court. In December 2013 a federal judge ordered the cross to be removed, but stayed the order pending appeal. In June 2014 the Supreme Court declined to review a case concerning the cross as the previous appeal had not been heard.〔 The American Civil Liberties Union proposed ways to resolve the situation: * The cross may be dismantled. * The cross may be sold to a third party and physically transferred off the public land. An Episcopal church, located within a few hundred feet from the present location of the cross, has agreed to place it on its property. * The government may hold an auction and sell the parcel of the land with the cross to the highest bidder. However, the government is not allowed to give any preference to those buyers who are interested in preserving the cross. An auction such as this was the subject of Proposition K in 2004,〔(Proposition K official text )〕 which failed 40% to 59%. Some defenders of the cross see all these options as unacceptable and are determined to find a way to leave the cross intact in its present location. In December 2014, Congress passed and President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015. Included in the bill is a provision that "authorizes the Secretary of Defense to convey (the cross) to the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial Association, subject to certain conditions." ==History of cross prior to 1989== Three differently shaped Christian crosses have been constructed since 1913 on City government property at the apex of Mt. Soledad (Mt. Soledad Natural Park) in the community of La Jolla. The original wooden cross on Mt. Soledad was erected in 1913 by private citizens living in La Jolla and Pacific Beach, but was stolen in 1923; later that year it was affixed back in the ground in Mt. Soledad Natural Park and later burned. The second cross was erected in 1934 by a private group of Protestant Christians from La Jolla and Pacific Beach. This sturdier, stucco-over-wood frame cross was blown down by blustery winds in 1952. A windstorm damaged one of the side bars in 1955 and the concrete structure had to be repaired. The present cross, tall on top of a -tall stepped platform, was installed in 1954. It was initially called the "Mount Soledad Easter Cross"; the word "Easter" was dropped in the 1980s. The cross dominating La Jolla's highest point identified La Jolla as a Christian neighborhood. For many years, Jews were denied opportunity to purchase a home in La Jolla. This was enforced by "The La Jolla Covenant" among all local realtors.〔 〕 However, the arrival of the University of California's campus in the early 1960s helped to gradually put an end to this residential prejudice.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mount Soledad cross controversy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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