Atheist group sues California city for giant cross in public park

A city in California is getting sued because of a big cross standing in one of its local parks.

Atheist group Freedom from Religion Foundation is demanding that Santa Clara remove the granite Latin cross standing at the Memorial Cross Park. Measuring 14 feet, it was donated to the city in 1953 by the Santa Clara Lions Club to commemorate the second Spanish Catholic mission in the area in 1777.

"The Defendant's acceptance of the Cross from the Santa Clara Lion's Club and its subsequent display and maintenance of the Cross amounts to the advancement of religion, and specifically an endorsement of and affiliation with Christianity, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution," reads the legal complaint filed by plaintiffs Andrew DeFaria and the FFRF on April 20.

In its complaint, naming Mayor Lisa Gillmore and council members as defendants, the FFRF said they had already sent a letter in 2012 to then-mayor Jamie Matthews about the cross, and they have been following up on the its removal since. The city removed the sign "Memorial Cross Park," although the cross still remains.

"It should not be necessary to sue over such an obvious and blatant establishment of religion," Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president, told Mercury News. "We waited four years for the city to act in good faith."

DeFaria, who lives in Santa Clara in close proximity to the park, has apparently been affected by the presence of the cross.

"As a non-believer in any religion, he finds the Cross on public land objectionable," says the complaint. "As a consequence, he avoids the public park and even goes so far as to avoid the street on which the park and Cross are located in order to avoid the offensive encounter with the City's endorsement of the Christian religion through this symbolism."

The group is requesting the court: to declare that the city's acceptance of the cross and its display is a violation of the Establishment of the First Amendment, of the California constitution, and their constitutional rights; for an injunction to prevent the city from "maintaining or displaying the Cross on public property, or, through subsequent transfer, on private property"; for nominal damages in their favor; and to be awarded compensation for attorney's fees and other costs.

"No one is being forced on their knees to pray there," Ginger Stasi, president of the Santa Clara Lions Club, said, as quoted by Mercury News. "Honestly, there are so many other problems in the world that need fixing."