Grace Palo
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) The Memorial Peace Cross in Prince George’s County, a 40-foot-tall marble-and-cement cross, is being questioned in federal court next month regarding whether the landmark is memorial to men lost in World War I or a government endorsement of religion on public land.
The Memorial Peace Cross is one of many cases that involves public displays of religion. This case has attracted attention from several conservative members of Congress, which say the case threatens to eliminate other monuments, images and inscriptions with religious significance, including several located at Arlington Cemetery.
“The memorial’s message is one of commemoration for the men of Prince George’s County lost in WWI, not an endorsement of religion,” according to a brief filed by the commission and The American Legion to the Richmond-based court.
The American Humanist Society does not dispute that the monument is a memorial. The group says a giant cross on government property “magnifies, rather than mitigates, its stigmatizing religious message: Christians are worth venerating while the rest may be forgotten.”
The Supreme Court has not drawn significant lines in the law regarding when and where certain religious symbols can stay on government land. The court has allowed some monuments with religious content to stand while forced others to be removed. The cases have relied on particular facts, such as the size, setting and history of the display.
About 60,000 cars pass through the intersection of MD 450 and US Route 1 in Bladensburg, where the cross stands. Nearby, there are a half-dozen smaller memorials, including tributes to those killed at Pearl Harbor and in Vietnam. Across the street is a tree-lined walkway dedicated to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (photo: Town of Bladensburg)
