This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

the Mt. Soledad cross

TAKE DOWN THAT CROSS (in San Diego)

Friend -

On Thursday, I stood in a federal courtroom in downtown San Diego, and I could not believe my ears: A federal judge, ordered the Mt. Soledad Cross–ripped down from its mountain.

That Cross has towered high on the hills overlooking San Diego for more than 50 years, but now the government says: the Cross must go.

In his defense, the judge wrote that he disagreed with his own decision, but he had no choice: the notoriously liberal ninth circuit had as much as ordered him to take down that Cross. He hinted that he hoped the Supreme Court would now intervene to restore the rights of the people of San Diego, and of religious believers everywhere.

The next six months are critical: we must defend the Mt. Soledad Cross, and I need your help.

My name is Chuck LiMandri. I will not give up defending the Cross—or the Mt. Soledad Cross.

You may know me as one of the merry band of San Diego Christians who helped put Prop 8 on the ballot.

But long before that, I put aside a lucrative trial practice to defend the Mt. Soledad Cross.

I did not give up in 2004, when the San Diego City Council tried the throw in the towel, surrender to the ACLU, and take down that cross. Instead I went into action, organized our fellow citizens, and together we fought back, and the politicians listened, they let the people vote. Once again the ACLU is trying to use raw government power to suppress the will of the people.

Today, I can look up and see: the Mt. Soledad Cross still stands, up on a mountain overlooking the beautiful Pacific, a tribute to veterans and to thousands of Christians and other religious believers like you and me who refused to give up, give in, surrender, and take down Crosses.

The ACLU complained and the 9th Circuit agreed: the Mt. Soledad cross is too big, too visible a symbol of hope to millions of San Diegans. Make the Cross smaller, cover it up, don’t let it shine on a hill, they told us.

But I will not give up hope. I will not refuse to fight. And with God’s grace we shall win.

Here I am on NBC news defending the Mt. Soledad Cross.

For more than a decade, I have defended that Cross in the federal court, in state court, in city council and before Congress (Most recently, just last year when the Left tried secretly to pass legislation requiring the Cross be sold to the highest bidder). I need your help to see this great battle through.

The Supreme Court informed us, when it remanded the case to the lower courts, that once we have a clear order from a judge taking down the Cross, we could come back to the Highest Court of this land restore our rights, and I am going to hold the Court to its word. I’ve worked closely with the Liberty Institute, filing key briefs.

Over the last ten years, I have personally donated $2 million in my time and money to defending the Mt. Soledad Cross. The Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund cannot do it alone.

We here at FCDF need your help to keep America a shining city on a hill, to keep the Cross on top of the mountain where it belongs.

I have worked with Alan Sears and ADF for many years. He says about me and FCDF:

“Chuck has developed a specialized expertise that neither of our organizations, given our limited resources, can presently make the center of our attention. He has a long and distinguished record of success as a trial attorney, and he is well-recognized and respected by others in his profession.

For over a decade, Chuck has led the legal effort to preserve the Mt. Soledad War Memorial Cross honoring our fallen heroes from a relentless legal attack from the ACLU and other groups. In addition, Chuck also successfully represented San Diego firefighters whose right of conscience was violated when they were forced to drive their fire engine in the local “Gay Rights Parade,” against their expressed will not to do so.

Alliance Defending Freedom provides a massive network of Allied Attorneys – now numbering more than 2,300 and representing 36 nations – to help Christians and others where their freedom of conscience is attacked. Chuck is always available and offers his services free of charge to share his expertise with this expanding circle of attorneys.

For example, he recently conducted a webinar for interested Alliance Defending Freedom Allied Attorneys to help train them in some of his legal skills. However, lawyers, no matter how skilled, cannot replicate overnight his thirty years of crack trial experience winning difficult cases in his area of expertise. That is why Chuck’s contribution to defend the effort to protect freedom of conscience is so vital.

Chuck LiMandri’s combination of experience in employment discrimination, contract torts, and defamation law – coupled with his incredible winning track record – are a distinct and essential contribution that will be necessary to protect traditional believers. That is why I urge you to help launch Chuck’s work, so he can hit the ground running in defense of our constitutionally-protected freedoms.”

This Christmas, can you reach down and sacrifice to help us keep the government from ripping down the Mt. Soledad Cross and dishonoring the ultimate sacrifice of our brave soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen?

Your gift of just $10 a month, or $100 a month can sustain us in this next, final and climactic stage of this epic battle.

Your gifts of $5, $500 or $5000 will be matched by a generous donor, becoming $100, $1000 or $10,000 to fight this injustice, to vindicate that we are a nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

One more year, and our rights will be vindicated. One more year and the ACLU will taste the bitter ashes of defeat in its mouths. 2014 will be the year, with God’s grace, and your help, that the victory of the Mt. Soledad Cross will be secured.

Please pray for me and my family, for the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, for Liberty Institute, and for all those on the front lines of this great fight for our nation’s first liberty, religious liberty.

Thank-you, and may God bless you and your family this Christmas.

Sincerely,
Chuck LiMandri
Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund

P.S. Please don’t allow this to happen. It dishonors the fallen heroes that gave their lives to defend our country. The court should be ashamed at its lack of patriotism. Your gift of $5, $500 or $5,000 will be doubled if you give prior to the end of the year. Give now we need your help.

Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund
P.O. Box 9520
Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067
Tel: (858) 759-9948; Fax: (858) 759-9938

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?