Posted by Hemant Mehta in Philip Paulson is the Vietnam War veteran who sued to remove the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial Cross which is on public property on San Diego. This suit has been ongoing for nearly 20 years, and recently, President Bush signed legislation transferring the cross to the Department of Defense. (Good to know they’re not too busy with the War that they have time to get involved in something like this…) Paulson recently announced that he has been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.
Al Rodbell, a San Diegan, was present at a luncheon honoring Paulson and wrote about it here. There’s also a video clip of Rodbell’s speech.
It’s sad to be losing a man who is seeking to keep state and church separate– and this violation is so bad that the president felt compelled to get involved– but it’s good to know the issue is still being fought.
There are many who think this is just another example of an atheist trying to get rid of a meaningless symbol because he hates religion or Christianity or both.
But c’mon, look at it. This cross is pretty friggin’ huge… if there are any other explanations of what that cross would represent that’s not religious, let’s hear it.
[tags]Philip Paulson, Mt. Soledad, San Diego, Al Rodbell, President Bush, atheist, Christianity[/tags]
[...] Philip Paulson passed away yesterday. Liver cancer. It wasn’t unexpected– he had known there wasn’t much time left– but it is still upsetting. He had fought for many years to remove the Mount Soledad cross from public property in San Diego. This year, President Bush transferred ownership of the cross to the Department of Defense in response to Paulson’s [...]
[...] he passed away in 2006, Philip Paulson had fought for 17 years to have the cross on Mount Soledad [...]