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City of "Las Cruces" Sued To Remove 3 Crosses from Emblem

By Peter J. Smith

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico, August 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The New Mexican city of Las Cruces now faces a trial date in federal court for a lawsuit which seeks to remove the three crosses in the city’s emblems and seals. The city, whose Spanish name means “the Crosses”, is fighting the suit claiming that the crosses are symbols of the city’s modern heritage.

"The crosses serve no governmental purpose other than to disenfranchise and discredit non-Christian citizens," said plaintiffs, Paul F. Weinbaum and Martin J. Boyd, both Las Cruces area residents.

The pair claim that the three crosses in the city’s logos constitute an unconstitutional promotion of religion by violating the “establishment clause” of the US Constitution. Weinbaum and Boyd filed the case in September with the U.S. District Court of Albuquerque, maintaining that the city uses public funds to promote religion and violates the civil rights act by using the crosses on its public logs.

The current lawsuit, however, is only part of a greater campaign launched principally by Weinbaum to expunge all symbols representing the area’s past Spanish Christian heritage. In 2003, Weinbaum filed a separate lawsuit with another Las Cruces resident, Jesse Chavez, against the Las Cruces Public Schools for using the three crosses on its vehicles and logos. So far that case has languished due to a backlog of other cases, and no trial date has been set.

“The city and state have been trying to get at least two types of the Christian religion, Catholicism and fundamentalism, in the schools since 1978, when the NM State legislature passed Statute 22-5-4.1, authorizing local school districts to implement a daily moment of silence in the public schools”, said Weinbaum, who posted his story on jewsonfirst.org.  In his story Weinbaum said he had a duty to “protect the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic”, and revealed his plans to sue Doña Ana County for adding in 2000 “a golden, dripping cross that ‘represents our sunshine’ to the county seal.”

The city plans to use New Mexico State University history professor Jon Hunner as an expert witness to detail the historical significance of the crosses to the court.

“The use of the crosses have become a civic symbol, divorced from its religious origins,“ wrote Hunner in an excerpt of his report published in a story by the Las Cruces Sun-News. “This use of the crosses in the city logo exemplifies how civil religion intertwines church with the state and utilizes a religious symbol without endorsing a particular religion.” 

So far, Las Cruces has spent over $16,000 in its defense according to city manager Terence Moore.

"We have had to defend ourselves before and we're ready to do it again," said Mayor Mattiace, whose city had faced a similar situation in 2003, according to the Sun-News.

"The crosses have a basis for being in our logo. We will hold course and will defend that," he said.

According to Weinbaum, the trial is set for November 27.

See related LifeSite Coverage: American Legion Urges Senate to Protect Public Expression of Religion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06080307.html

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