A cross recently popped up on Pismo Beach. It’s not the first to stir controversy
Recently a cross was placed on the public beach near the Pismo Beach Pier.
It isn’t the first cross constructed and taken down on public land in Pismo Beach. More on that in a moment.
America’s relationship between religion and politics have a complicated history.
Some colonies were founded as an attempt to escape religious persecution in the old country.
Maryland was created by King Charles I to provide a place in the new world for England’s Catholics to go after their fall from power and influence.
Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church over his failure to be granted a marriage annulment by the Pope. The Church of England was then created to bind religious power to the King’s throne.
Pennsylvania was home to the Quakers. This was a decision by the throne to locate the peaceful sect as a buffer between quarrelsome colonies.
And once people got stateside, squabbles broke out inside colonies.
Rhode Island broke off from Connecticut in the name of religious freedom.
If a state church had been desired in the colonies, then the Church of England would have thrived here. It didn’t.
And the religious beliefs and practices of the nation’s founders are as varied as their personalities. A monolithic interpretation of their motivations risks oversimplifying or misrepresenting nuance.
The language of the revolution often celebrated the free will of the individual.
The concept of a separation of church and state is rooted in a distrust of giving one sect absolute power, especially one from another colony.
And in the centuries since the founding, individuals have had the freedom to select the faith, or no faith, without being compelled by government. Other faiths beside Christianity have arrived or been established in the United States.
So what about that cross in Pismo Beach?
Turn the clock back to Sept. 13, 1997 and this story by Carol Roberts:
Cross to tower over Pismo once again
Move to adjacent private property forced by atheists
The cross is going back up on the hill over Pismo Beach. Only now it will be on private property.
Diane Bagwell plans a little ceremony at 3 p.m. Sunday in her back yard to celebrate placement of the cross that was a familiar fixture in city-owned Boosinger Park for more than 40 years.
Old-timers say the cross was put on the park land as a gesture of thanksgiving when state authorities came to town to cast out sin — closing down gambling spots and bordellos.
Until recently, the 16-foot cross stood atop Wadsworth Street. City crews lit it up at Christmas time. It could easily be seen from downtown and the freeway. On clear nights, it could sometimes be seen from even farther.
But a few months ago, City Attorney David Hunt said he advised the City Council to get rid of it. Public agencies, he pointed out, are prohibited by law from doing anything that looks like they’re trying to establish a religion. The city was at risk of a lawsuit, he said, as long as the cross was there.
Atheists United of San Luis Obispo had told the city it was violating First Amendment rights by owning and maintaining the cross on city property.
“We reminded the city of the laws,” said Peggy Koteen, a leader in the group of about 25. “We are so pleased the city found the moral thing to do.”
The city ran an ad looking for someone to take the cross and keep it on private property. Bagwell and her husband, Ken, responded. The cross is now in their hillside backyard off Shaffer Street, about 20 feet below where it stood before.
They plan to light it on holidays.
They marvel at the more than a dozen volunteers — mostly strangers to them — who helped move, refurbish and build a new pipe base for it. It glistens in the sun with a fresh coat of white paint once again overlooking the panorama that stretches from Point Sal to Avila Beach.
Bagwell said people can gather in the park Sunday to look into her yard and see the crossbar lifted into place. The service will be non-denominational, she said. Some clergy will speak, a prayer will be said and “The Old Rugged Cross” may be sung.
Since she took possession a few weeks ago, Bagwell and others have been trying to find out how and why the cross was placed at the top of the hill many years ago.
Ural Foresee, a resident since the 1940s and a city councilman in the 1970s, said he helped put up the cross in the early 1950s.
“A bunch of us wanted to have an Easter sunrise service up there,” Foresee said. “We were glad that authorities were in the process of cleaning up the gambling and prostitution. We’d been known as sin city.”
Foresee, who ran a family roller skating rink then, said Bill Parkhurst, “who had the doughnut shop,” helped him put up the cross. “Warren Davis, an electrician, furnished the lights and Bill and I built it.”
Foresee, 73, estimated that all happened in 1951 or 1952. H.E. Boosinger was the mayor, he said. The land was privately owned then but later given to the city — complete with cross. The city or Chamber of Commerce have always looked after it, Foresee said.
There may have been others instrumental in getting the cross up. Some say the city’s Portuguese population also was heavily involved.
