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28 November 2012
LOCAL: Riverside citizens came together at November 13’s city council meeting to voice their opinions and views of Mt. Rubidoux’s cross.
By Isabel De La Garza, Senior Writer
Mt. Rubidoux’s 35-foot wooden cross stood from 1907 until 1963, when it was set on fire twice after the private land it stood on was donated to the city. After that, a concrete and steel version was placed atop the mountain where it still stands today. In response to a threatened lawsuit by Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), the city council has begun a series of meetings, at the end of which they will determine whether to go through with the lawsuit or sell the land the cross sits on to a private owner.
Citizens of Riverside have flocked to the meetings to voice their thoughts on the matter. Residents who agree with AU argue that the cross is an “unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity” on public land, which some individuals feel implies that Riverside is a town only for Christians. Others feel it marginalizes persons of other religions who do not have such prominent symbols on public land.
Many who long to keep the cross where it is argue from two major points: 1) that if the cross is taken down it would violate freedoms of religion, and 2) that the cross has historical and nostalgic value as a landmark. Naturally, the more radical and hard-to-defend case to make would be the former, as other symbols of practiced religions (such as the Islamic star and crescent or a pentacle of Paganism) would be removed swiftly without so much as a worry for the religious freedoms of individuals of those religions. Additionally, as there are more types of religion apart from Christianity represented in Riverside (such as Judaism, Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism), it could be argued that more groups would be marginalized by keeping the cross in its current place. All this viewpoint does is turn a rational quandary into an emotional issue, which is practically irreconcilable, what with “feelings” being “hurt” on both sides
However, as it is the more radical argument, it is the most sensationalized, which frankly does not help the movement to keep the cross up. It is the second argument that has the most weight. The cross was originally erected in 1907 by Frank Miller, owner of the Mission Inn, to honor Father Junipero Serra, a Jesuit priest, who helped to settle California by founding ten missions in the state by traversing 600 miles of it, and collected money to aid George Washington during the Revolutionary War.
In 1909, Jacob Riis, a friend of Theodore Roosevelt, came to give an address at the Mission Inn, where he suggested an Easter Sunrise Service on Mt. Rubidoux. This tradition became annual, and established Mt. Rubidoux as the site of the longest-running non-denominational Easter Sunrise Service in the United States. Later that year, President William Howard Taft traveled to the cross to dedicate another plaque to Father Junipero Serra. In 1910, John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, visited it. The cross has attracted many prominent individuals and tourists to visit Riverside to see it, whether for its historical value or not. It has sparked many a tradition, such as the Boy Scout-led hike up the mountain on Easter, a public, secular voluntary service activity to help less-physically-able worshippers ascend the terrain, in addition to outside interest for the city, which often leads to more attention to the city both socially and economically.
Granted, a lot of the traditions can be considered non-secular; however, people of all religions take part in visiting the cross and see it more as a landmark than an offensive religious symbol. Others view it as simply a part of the mountain itself. They do not distinguish it as a cross but rather a part of the scenery. Others do not notice it at all. A lot of citizens of Riverside probably do not even care or think about it as a religious symbol because they’ve grown up with it hanging over their heads. It’s been up for 105 years; it might as well be a rock formation to them.