Yes, This Will Make a Lot of Difference

Emphasis mine. Text taken from First Amendment Center

ACLU wants cross rubbed out of L.A. County seal

By The Associated Press
05.27.04
LOS ANGELES — The American Civil Liberties Union is demanding the removal of a tiny cross that is among historic symbols on Los Angeles County’s official seal.

The seal “prominently depicts a Latin cross, a sectarian religious symbol that represents the beliefs of one segment of the county’s diverse population” and is an “impermissible endorsement of Christianity” by the county government, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California said in a letter to county officials this week....

The cross was incorporated into the seal to represent the area’s settlement by Spanish missionaries who, in the 1700s, founded two of California’s famous missions in what is now Los Angeles County.

“The cross on our county seal reflects these historical facts,” Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich wrote back to Ramona Ripston, executive director of the local ACLU organization. “It does not mean that we are all Roman Catholics or that everyone who resides in our county is a Christian — it only reflects our historical roots.”...

People read about the Redlands case and then called the ACLU about the Los Angeles County seal, said Ben Wizner, an ACLU attorney....

The ACLU did not object to the Roman goddess or the name Los Angeles, which means “the angels.” Wizner said that to do so would push the issue to “extreme limits.”...