Memories from Prager's Book "Still the Best Hope"

Memories from Prager’s Book “Still the Best Hope”

In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012

This is the first in a series. I recall the role played by the ACLU in removing the cross from the L. A. County Seal. The key vote by the CINOP (Catholic-in-name-only-politician) Supervisor Gloria Molina to remove the cross still bothers me. I believe Dennis went to the Supervisors’ meetings and tried to keep the cross in the L.A. County Seal. I think his book should be required reading by all Catholics, particularly the clergy and staff at USCCB.

Page 38: “In 2004, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to remove the cross, the smallest image on the Los Angeles County seal, from the seal. This followed an ACLU threat to sue the county if it did not remove the seal.

“To understand how extreme the movement to remove any vestige of America’s religious origins is, it is necessary to know what the seal of Los Angeles County depicted.

“There were six small panels, three going up and three going down each side. On the left side were panels depicting engineering instruments, a Spanish galleon, and a tuna representing the fishing industry. On the right side, the top panel contained oil derricks; the middle panel depicted the Hollywood Bowl, along with two stars representing the movie industry, and a small cross depicting in the official words of the county, “the influence of the church and the missions of California.” The lowest right side panel showed a prize cow.

“By far the largest image was Pomona, the Roman goddess of gardens and fruit trees, who was drawn from top to bottom in the center of the seal . The cross was so small that when I first viewed the seal, I didn’t see it.

“The cross represented the Christian founding of Los Angeles County. The very name of the county, Los Angeles - “the Angels - bears testimony to its Christian origins. The cross no more advocated Christianity than the goddess Pomona advocated Roman paganism or the cow promoted Hinduism. It was dishonest to argue that Los Angeles County was promoting Christianity. As for the argument put forth by the ACLU that the tiny cross made non-Christians feel “unwelcome,” as a Jew, I found the comment both absurd and paranoid.

“No Jew I spoke to, including Orthodox and other rabbis, felt “unwelcome.” By the same logic, vegetarians should have felt unwelcome in Los Angeles County given that two panels depicted animals as food.

“What we have here were the ACLU and three liberal county supervisors erasing the Christian history of Los Angeles County.

“Such efforts at extinguishing the religious nature of American life are not confined to the liberal coasts. In 2010, ABC News reported, “One week before the most solemn day in the Christian year, the city of Davenport, Iowa, removed Good Friday from its municipal calendar … Taking a recommendation by the Davenport Civil Rights Commission to change the holiday’s name to something more ecumenical, City Administrator Craig Malin sent a memo to municipal employees announcing Good Friday would officially be known as ‘Spring Holiday.’”

George H. Kubeck, In 2004, the Church failed the Catholic community in Los Angeles. Today, we would like to fight this matter over again and win all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.