Posted on 10/25/2006 6:15:14 PM PDT by radar101
Philip Kevin Paulson, who fought a 17-year legal battle to remove the Mount Soledad cross from public property, died Wednesday of liver cancer. He was 59.
Paulson, a 6-foot-5 Vietnam veteran who lived in City Heights, became so passionate about the separation of church and state that he filed a civil lawsuit against the city of San Diego in 1989 without an attorney. He won the case, and as the appeals dragged on he became one of the county's most reviled and respected characters.
The Cross
Typical Memorial Plaque around base
During interviews with The San Diego Union-Tribune in September and October, a few months after doctors told him he did not have long to live, Paulson said he was unconcerned about death and proud of the stand that defined his life.
“The real message is equal treatment under the law, and religious neutrality. That's the purpose of why I did it,” said Paulson, who turned away from religion early in life. “It has nothing to do with me being an atheist or whether I was a Bible-thumping fundamentalist Baptist preacher.”
Paulson, the grandson of a Lutheran preacher who shunned media attention to protect the case, agreed to exclusive interviews on the condition that his comments remain confidential until his death or the end of the case.
He said he wanted people to understand why he pursued the removal of the cross, and that he was never motivated by a hatred of Christians.
“I don't harbor those kind of feelings,” Paulson said. “My mother's a Christian. I was raised a devout Christian. I'm not anti-Christian. The reason I did it is because it's not fair to the other religions. America is not just the Christian religion.”
Paulson, who grew up in Clayton, Wis., a town of 300 people, taught computer and business classes at National University.
When it became clear last summer that Paulson's condition was terminal, he and his lawyer, James McElroy, made plans to add another plaintiff to the case so that it could continue. The city has agreed to the move, although the change awaits the judge's signature. The new plaintiff, Steve Trunk, is a Vietnam war veteran, an atheist and also the product of a religious upbringing.
The city has argued that while the cross has religious significance, it also has a secular purpose – to honor war veterans. Paulson contended the memorial portion of the hilltop site was built only after he filed suit. The cross is a religious symbol that should be moved from public land, Paulson contended.
President Bush signed a bill this year that transferred ownership of the cross and war memorial site to the Department of Defense.
I love reading these CVs of important activist Liberals.
So legendary, always including the inevitable early precocious expressions of an awareness of injustice: I wonder if you found a way to get down to Arkansas in the 1950 s and protest with the 11 year old Bill CLinton by going to sit in the back of the bus out of solidarity with Rosa Parks? Remember Clinton claiming that last year during her funeral?
Condolences to Mr. Paulson's family and friends.
I'm taking up a collection to place a cross on Mr. Paulson's grave site.
No PayPal please. Just send cash.
I'll forgive anyone who wants to piss on his grave.
Not that that carries a lot of weight anywhere :-)
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
The "truth" we speak of here is a spiritual one. And although your argument has great merit in the fact that there is "one truth" the truth is you don't know any more than I do what it actually is. You may claim to know, because of the religion or belief system that you follow, "the truth". In actuality, truth is relative and situational. Something you might consider true many others may reject outright. This does not make your perception of the truth false, it only creates a parallel of your truth. What is true and false in logic is not true or false in the realm of theology or sociology. Different cultures have different truths or beliefs. I am in no way deriding or belittling your truths, so why do find it necessary to question mine?
Whatever else you might think of Jonathan Edwards, his "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" draws out some fearful biblical messages of the heavenly host... REJOICING... WORSHIPING GOD WITH AWE AND PRAISE... at the destruction of sinners in hell. Smoke rising up forever and ever in the sight of the blessed spirits and suchlike. Whether Edwards' spin is the entire story is a matter of debate, but it deserves looking at.
Troggie, please also accept that I respect and accept many of the "truths" of Christianity as my own truths. There are some tenats of the religion that I do not accept, but I do not want to have that discussion as it is an endless and fruitless endeavor for both of us. My lack of faith or belief in a religion in now way is a commentary on the religion. One of the primary tenats of Christianity that I feel is paramount to holding respect and fellowship for another human beings is the one of witholding judgement towards others until experience or action proves them out. If my actions or words are offensive to you I appologize they are not meant to be.
This is nonsense even looked at on the level that truth could be known by accident.
Good riddence.Spelling maybe wrong but is nicest thing i could come up with.
Of all people, atheists should be least offended, since they see the pursuit of religion as an exercise in futility
Take piercing and tattoing for example. I personally can't think of anything dumber one can do to their body.
But I surely have no obsession to prevent them from such shenanigans. Why can't atheists see those of us who believe in God and are proud to recite the Pledge of Allegiance as just practicing "shenanigans."
No, they must tie up courts ad nauseam for whatever insecurity has taken over their brain under the guise that the Goverment is inflicting (infecting) us with God.
Every Knee will Bow and Every Tongue Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Nice....but....
...received the Margaret Sanger Award given by Planned Parenthood for his work on behalf of women's ABORTION rights.
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
"Ricky's God?"
To some, he was.
Babaluuuuuu........
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