The quarter-century controversy over the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial has finally ended, after the US Department of Defense sold the government land on which the 29-foot cross stood.

Judges have disagreed over how emblematic the San Diego memorial really was of Christianity.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals referred to the cross as a “distinctively Christian symbol” in its 2011 ruling that the memorial was unconstitutional. It sided with opponents who argued the cross signified “that Jesus is the Son of God and died to redeem mankind.”

In contrast, US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia suggested “the cross was a war memorial,” maintaining that it was “outrageous” to conclude that the only dead veterans it honored were Christians. The high court has twice refused to review the case.

CT previously examined the Supreme Court's tangled view of public crosses, and noted the range of perspectives among Christian lawyers and ...

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