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A California club is fighting to get its cross back on what they say is their private property after an atheist group campaigned for it to be removed.
Fifty years ago, a devout Christian asked the Albany Lions Club to build and maintain a large lighted steel and plexiglass cross on his private land, to be lit during the Christmas and Easter seasons. When lit, the cross is visible for miles, which the group says sends “its message of God’s love and as a comfort to the Christian community.”
The surrounding area has since become public land but the cross is part of an easement dispute between the City of Albany and Lions Club.
In 2023, then-Mayor Aaron Tiedemann, who is associated with the Green Party, celebrated a decision to remove the cross.
“The city has actually put its money where its mouth is, and our city looks a little bit more accepting now in a way that we think is consistent with our values,” Tiedemann told the East Bay Times in June. “For the small local group of people that really want to see the cross stay, when you’ve had such privilege for so long, losing it feels like being oppressed. That’s going to be an adjustment for folks, but I think we will all get used to it, and I think it’s a real benefit.”
The club is being represented by the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a conservative legal defense organization based in California, who has filed a petition to try to get the cross returned.
PJI president Brad Dacus said in an interview with Fox News, “If there was a giant LGBT flag or something like that, this city would embrace it. No problem. So it’s specifically because of the viewpoint and the religious viewpoint and perspective of the cross. That’s their agenda.”
PJI President Brad Dacus recently spoke on Fox News about a case taking the country by storm! A CA town tore down a religious cross.
Watch here for more: https://t.co/VoC8047ygn
To continue to fight we need your help. Support PJI here: https://t.co/9BEXNn6Vp1 pic.twitter.com/skie2AwJG8
— Pacific Justice Institute (@PacificJustice) April 16, 2024
According to PJI, the cross was constructed and dedicated on Easter 1971. Then along came an atheist group in 2016:
There were no objections to the cross, its lighting or the associated religious activities at the cross until 2016, when an atheist group raised a complaint and convinced the Albany City Council to take up the cause of removing the cross. The City Council held public hearings condemning the cross, asked the Lions Club to voluntarily remove the cross and offered to purchase the easement. When these efforts failed the City engaged in a campaign of harassment, which included disconnecting the electrical utility service to the cross. The service was restored less than four months later but the harassment continued, with the City Council vowing to explore every avenue to remove the cross.
A judge approved the removal of the cross in a January 29, 2024 decision.
CLICK HERE to read more.
A Christian, Albany Lions Club member brought a cross on private land to symbolize hope. An atheist group’s objection led to efforts to remove it by the Albany City Council. The Albany Lions Club is defending its Free Speech rights. Read more: https://t.co/aq0BbGUe6X pic.twitter.com/WWlRvZuuPH
— Pacific Justice Institute (@PacificJustice) April 10, 2024
Evangelical leader Franklin Graham spoke out about efforts to remove the cross last August. He wrote:
After 50 years, the city council of Albany, California, had a 28-foot tall hilltop cross taken down because they didn’t like what it stood for. The cross had been maintained by the local Lions Club for decades. Christians who live there want to bring it back—and I hope they can!
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
After 50 years, the city council of Albany, California, had a 28-foot tall hilltop cross taken down because they didn’t like what it stood for. The cross had been maintained by the local Lions Club for decades. Christians who live there want to bring it back—and I hope they can!…
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) August 3, 2023
Bay Area Christians fight city over ‘hostile and targeted’ cross removal: ‘Discriminatory action’ https://t.co/5jt1ULv8KI
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 16, 2024
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