Press Release

Congress Steps into Mt. Soledad Cross Battle

For Immediate Release - Contact: Roy Speckhardt (202) 238-9088
rspeckhardt@americanhumanist.org

(Washington, D.C., November 22, 2004) “In a time when politics and ideology trump reason, government officials are trying to impose their faith-based views on the rest of us by hacking away at Thomas Jefferson’s wall of church-state separation,” stated Tony Hileman, executive director of the American Humanist Association.

Less than three weeks after religious conservatives falsely claimed a moral mandate, congressional leaders have begun an assault on constitutional protections. The $388 billion omnibus spending bill derails efforts to keep church and state properly separated, attacks reproductive rights, hurts the environment, infringes on privacy rights, and threatens low-income Americans.

Longtime Humanist Philip Paulson has been fighting court battles since 1989 in efforts to remove the Easter Cross on Mount Soledad in a San Diego park. The forty-three-foot cross on city property is clearly unconstitutional as court after court has said. As part of this omnibus bill, Congress establishes the land surrounding this cross as a national veterans memorial, hoping to put a stop to Paulson’s efforts to remove it.

“Relying on legislative trickery to erode constitutional values is simply inexcusable,” added Hileman. “Houses of worship and citizens retain their inalienable right to practice their religion in their churches and on their private property, but public land must remain free of governmental favoritism.”

Also part of this omnibus bill is an anti-abortion provision. Humanists see this and other assaults on women’s right to choose as a government intrusion on religious freedom. The provision allows federally funded healthcare providers to refuse to provide or pay for abortions. Current law provides "conscience protection'' to doctors who don’t want to undergo abortion training. This new provision expands that “protection” to health care institutions, like hospitals, clinics, and insurers.

“This abortion provision is a direct strike on Roe v. Wade and represents a huge step by Congress down a dangerous slope that can only lead to the complete undermining of women’s reproductive rights in America. The right to choose is a freedom that must be protected,” concluded Hileman.

AHA president Mel Lipman summed up, “Now is not the time to compromise on values held by a majority of Americans. This assault on women’s reproductive rights and the constitutional separation of religion and government should not go unchallenged.”

The American Humanist Association is the oldest and largest Humanist organization in the nation. The AHA is dedicated to ensuring a voice for those with a positive nontheistic outlook, based on reason and experience, which embraces all of humanity .

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