Atheist group wins battle to pull cross from public park after threatening lawsuit
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A California city has removed a 14-foot tall granite cross from a public park after receiving a legal complaint from a local man and the nation's largest atheist group.
Santa Clara officials removed the large cross last week following legal action by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, donating it to Santa Clara University, a Jesuit academic institution.
NEARLY 1 MILLION CHRISTIANS REPORTEDLY MARTYRED FOR THEIR FAITH IN LAST DECADE
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FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement released Tuesday that with Santa Clara's decision "reason and the Constitution have prevailed."
"It's a very rational way to begin the New Year — sending a strong message of support of the wall of separation between religion and government," Gaylor asserted.
In 1953, the Santa Clara Lion's Club donated the cross to Santa Clara as a way to honor the the site of the second Spanish Catholic mission established in the city in 1777.
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In 2012, the FFRF was informed about the cross's presence on the grounds of the public park and sent a letter to the city demanding its removal, only to have the cross remain where it had been since 1953.
Last April, the FFRF sued the city on behalf of a local man named Andrew DeFaria. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division.