LOS ANGELES, June 7 (UPI) -- A lawsuit has been filed to block the removal of the tiny but controversial cross in the official seal of Los Angeles County.
The Thomas More Law Center in Michigan said its West Coast lawyers filed a suit in federal court last Friday on behalf of a county employee, which alleged that the removal of the cross was a "government-sponsored message of hostility toward Christians."
A spokesman said the county was treating Christians as second-class citizens in violation of constitutional protections.
The county Board of Supervisors voted June 1 to remove the cross under the threat of a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU said the cross was an official endorsement of Christianity that other religions would find offensive.
Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony asked the board last week to reconsider on the grounds the cross was an historical symbol of Southern California's settlement by Spanish missionaries.
