{"id":28214,"date":"2017-10-23T22:48:17","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T02:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/?p=28214"},"modified":"2017-10-23T22:48:58","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T02:48:58","slug":"crusade-cross-honoring-vets-go-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2017\/10\/23\/crusade-cross-honoring-vets-go-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Crusade Against Cross Honoring Vets Could Go to Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

An appeals court ruling against a war memorial cross could lead to the next big religious liberties case before the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/a>Bishop Council Nedd II<\/a>, a co-chairman of the National Center\u2019s Project 21<\/a> black leadership network says:<\/p>\n

The Bladensburg Peace Cross<\/a> should be allowed to stand where it has stood since it was erected in 1925.<\/p>\n

This growing trend in America to rewrite history has gone too far already, and I fear where this is headed.\u00a0\u00a0It is not in the American tradition to destroy, deface and demolish monuments.\u00a0\u00a0That is something that happens in dictatorial countries when leaders are toppled.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th<\/sup> Circuit, in a divided ruling, said<\/a> the 40-foot Latin cross that stands at a suburban Maryland intersection \u201cexcessively entangles\u201d the government with religion and is thus unconstitutional. \u00a0It overturned a lower court\u2019s ruling said the nearly century-old landmark \u2013 inscribed with the words \u201cendurance,\u201d \u201cvalor,\u201d \u201ccourage\u201d and \u201cdevotion\u201d \u2013 was not primarily religious and almost always used in a manner that marked government rather than religious observances.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>Yet the majority of judges on the 4th<\/sup> Circuit determined<\/a> that the Bladensburg Cross \u2013 dedicated to local men who died in the First World War \u2013 unlawfully represents \u201cthe core symbol of Christianity\u201d and is \u201cprominently displayed in the center of on one of the busiest intersections in Prince George\u2019s County, Maryland, and maintained with thousands of dollars in government funds.\u201d\u00a0 Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory, in his dissent, countered<\/a>: \u201cIn the majority\u2019s view, the memorial is unconstitutional based predominantly on the size of the cross, and neither its secular features nor history could overcome the presumption.\u00a0 But such a conclusion is contrary to our constitutional directive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan called<\/a> the decision \u201coutrageous\u201d and said \u201call options, legal or otherwise, are being considered\u201d to keep the cross in place.\u00a0 That could include an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

The American Humanist Association (AHA) originally filed the lawsuit against the Peace Cross.\u00a0 AHA Senior Counsel Monica Miller wrote<\/a> in 2014 that the group was seeking \u201cto eliminate this stigmatic message [of the cross] to non-adherents of Christianity.\u00a0 It urges the government to erect an inclusive monument that will honor all fallen soldiers, regardless of their faith.\u201d \u00a0Jeremy Dys, an attorney for the First Liberty Institute, the group that defended the Peace Cross, remarked<\/a>\u00a0after the ruling: \u201cI think it\u2019s important that we honor veterans the way that veterans choose to honor themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ruling, if allowed to stand, could have an impact on other monuments in places such as national cemeteries.\u00a0 It could also help to reshape American society, where memorials such as the Bladensburg Peace Cross have stood without offending residents for generations.\u00a0 Nedd, who grew up in the area where the cross stands, has fond memories of it and concerns about what the ruling portends for the future:<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?\u00a0 Will there be a movement to tear faces off Mount Rushmore, or rename national parks?<\/p>\n

The Peace Cross is different.\u00a0\u00a0It honors our veterans.\u00a0 And it means a lot of good things to a lot of people.\u00a0 For me, it was an integral part of my childhood.\u00a0\u00a0It was always a special day if my family found ourselves in that part of town and my father would take us to see the \u201cbig cross.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is lost on the secularist and the revisionist historians is that \u2013 like it or not \u2013 America was founded as a Christian nation.\u00a0 We should not apologize for that, or hide from that fact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An appeals court ruling against a war memorial cross could lead to the next big religious liberties case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Bishop Council Nedd II, a co-chairman of the National Center\u2019s Project 21 black leadership network says: The Bladensburg Peace Cross should be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,33,36],"tags":[77],"yoast_head":"\nCrusade Against Cross Honoring Vets Could Go to Supreme Court - The National Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2017\/10\/23\/crusade-cross-honoring-vets-go-supreme-court\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Almasi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2017\/10\/23\/crusade-cross-honoring-vets-go-supreme-court\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2017\/10\/23\/crusade-cross-honoring-vets-go-supreme-court\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Almasi\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/986101645c65e8d001dc8de54beb396d\"},\"headline\":\"Crusade Against Cross Honoring Vets Could Go to Supreme Court\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-24T02:48:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-24T02:48:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2017\/10\/23\/crusade-cross-honoring-vets-go-supreme-court\/\"},\"wordCount\":603,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2017\/10\/23\/crusade-cross-honoring-vets-go-supreme-court\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/nedd-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ConservativeBlog.org\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\",\"Legal Reform\",\"Project 21\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2017\/10\/23\/crusade-cross-honoring-vets-go-supreme-court\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2017\/10\/23\/crusade-cross-honoring-vets-go-supreme-court\/\",\"name\":\"Crusade Against Cross Honoring Vets Could Go to Supreme Court - 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