Commentator Says L.A. Cross Controversy Has Roused Area Church Leaders
by Chad Groening
June 11, 2004
(AgapePress) - A syndicated Christian talk show host says for too long large churches in Southern California have been silent about the major social issues plaguing America; but apparently, he says, a tiny cross at the center of a growing controversy is changing all that.
More than a thousand angry protestors converged on the Los Angeles County headquarters on Tuesday to protest the 3 to 2 decision by the Board of Supervisors to give in to the demands of the American Civil Liberties Union and remove a small cross from the official county seal. The three Democrat supervisors held firm, however, and would not change their decision.
On his talk show, radio commentator Paul McGuire had encouraged people to attend the gathering, and since then he has learned that other community leaders have taken up the call for Christian involvement.
"After we did about three different shows on this issue last week," McGuire says, "I heard reports that in several of the big mega-churches, the pastors from the pulpit on Sunday morning urged people to stand up for the cross. So things are changing."
The talk host says he is encouraged by the reaction from Los Angeles-area churches, because in the past they have kept fairly silent on social issues. He notes that Californians have had in the last year since former governor Gray Davis left office, "a ton of the most horrible pro-homosexual education bills" passed, and yet he says "the Church here has been almost completely silent. The leaders of the large churches will not speak out publicly."
But now, McGuire says, "That is starting to change." He believes between the newly galvanized church leadership and the general public outrage, those trying to get rid of the cross on the L.A. county seal may be forced to realize it is not simply a religious symbol, but is an emblem of widespread cultural significance.
"There's a lot of people who wouldn't necessarily be conservative or religious, but who want to see the cross there, if for nothing else, for historic reasons," the radio host observes. "This is a very unpopular move by the ACLU, and I think it's going to backfire on them," he says.
Meanwhile, the controversy has been carried into the court system. A Los Angeles County employee who does not want the cross excised from the seal recently filed a lawsuit to block its removal.
