The following comes from a May 31 release from the American Humanists.

The American Humanist Association filed suit in federal court today against the city of Lake Elsinore, California, to stop it from funding the construction and display on public property of a monument depicting a soldier kneeling in prayer before a Christian cross. The city approved the design and funding of the cross monument in November of last year but has yet to complete its installation at the city-owned baseball stadium.

The group’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center sent a letter at that time to the city council explaining that cross monument would violate the separation of church and state required by the Constitution, but no reply was received.

The city approved the design and allocated approximately $50,000 of city funds for construction and installation. “The city has clearly violated the First Amendment by unnecessarily choosing a divisively religious means of honoring our veterans,” said William Burgess, an attorney with the Appignani Humanist Legal Center.

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