Mt. Rubidoux - Save the Cross!

This week is a critical week as a Riverside resident as many are going to a city council meeting to ensure a historical monument is not removed from Mt. Rubidoux. The historical monument is the "Serra Cross" dedicated by the architect of the Mission Inn, Frank Miller. My wife and I have been enjoying hiking up Mt. Rubidoux in downtown Riverside this year several times, and at the top of the mountain is a monument that was dedicated in more recent years as a larger more permanent cross. I wrote my Council member today to show my support to "save the cross" in my city:

Dear Mr. Mac Athur,

"The McCauley family would like to email our support to "save the cross" on Mt. Rubidoux for tonight's meeting that we cannot attend. 

The Mt. Rubidoux cross is simply at best (and should be viewed) a historical landmark of the city of Riverside with conjunction to the Mission Inn and other respected historical sites. It just so happens that some respectable sites have included, architecturally speaking, Christian symbolism, which freely and responsibly expresses faith-based references within the framework of the US Constitution and the city of Riverside. Now all of a sudden due to the location of the Mt. Rubidoux cross being on public land (as it has always been), an anti-Christian organization seeks to remove and hope to destroy a cross after being used for over 100 years in ceremonies and more recently dedicated as the pernament Serra Cross.

Unfortunately, it is clear that the group, Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU.org), has a stretched misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment. On their website they explain the organization's agenda is to do this:

"Americans United leads the fight against Religious Right groups that seek to tear down the wall of separation between church and state. We counter Religious Right misinformation campaigns, expose their radical agenda and battle their schemes in legislative halls and courtrooms."

It is clear that this small minority group is "aggressively" trying to counter, expose, and battle anything associated with religion, specifically Christianity (who they clearly identify on their website as evangelicals/protestants/catholics). It is the McCauley family's perspective that the organization's logic is legally irrational, politically divisive, and socially unethical. To suggest the destruction of a historical landmark in the city of Riverside is extremely fallacious and not rational grounds for legal lawsuits, political correctness, or social tolerance. Threatening to sue the city to stimulate the messy costs of financial losses in court is absurd. Therefore, it is safe to suggest Americans United is as far from being "united" with Americans as one can possibly imagine.

There is no plausible evidence that showcases the Mt. Rubidoux cross is (or ever has infringed upon) anyone's religious beliefs, rights, convictions, or is influencing city/state/federal measures as the 14th amendment protects. The cross does not express in written or verbal formalities to promote, preach, or proselyte Christianity simply because it is a nothing more than a monument. The cross does not infringe, violate, or restrict anyone's religious freedom because it is nothing more than a symbol. The cross does not generate misinformation or express a radical agenda/schemes because it is nothing more than cement on a small mountain of rocks. As the majority of Riverside residents feel, Americans United has come to our city to trying and tell us how our city needs to look, and what we need to change after 100 years of beautiful religious freedom has been enjoyed on Mt. Rubidoux.

Our family enjoys seeing the cross every time we hike up the mountain, and it is appreciated by many. It will not be the same, of course, if it is removed and in this unethical manner. My hopes is the city will take whatever deems necessarily, and at all costs, save the cross that is precious to our city and is viewed incorrectly and unjustified by a Washington D.C. organization who does not seem to care about history of the city of Riverside (and also in the other cities they have targeted) due to their heartless political agenda."

Sincerely,

Ryan McCauley

Right now on Facebook, many are showing there support with over 5,000 likes (here is the Facebook page, "Save the Cross!").

The secular progressive and liberal group called Americans United for Separation of Church and State intends to sue the city of Riverside because the cross is on public land. It has been on public land all of this time, and now this group seeks to have it removed. So many people are outraged by this nonsense, because of several reasons. First, they are using legal pressure against the city to fulfill their agenda of removing all religion from anything associated in the public city/state/federal levels. Second, they are threatening financial losses in the legal system if the city will not comply with their complaint. Third, they are asking to remove a piece of history without the consent of the city and residents. And lastly, they are basing their entire complaint off of a stretched misinterpretation of the 14 amendment and not for the good of the people of Riverside who enjoy the monument.

I fully support to "save the cross" and hope that he city does what it can to save it. They need to save it to ensure organization like this will not prosper in the future and show the world how irrational it is to force people to remove innocent historical or religious monuments. So is religious freedom reeeally free?