The Memorial
The Peace Cross is a war memorial located in the three-way junction of Bladensburg Road, Baltimore Avenue, and Annapolis Road in Bladensburg, Maryland. It is a large cross, 40 feet (12 m) in height, made of tan concrete with exposed pink granite aggregate. The arms of the cross are supported by unadorned concrete arches. It was designed by John J. Earley and placed in 1919–1925 in commemoration of the town's World War I war casualties. The memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. The Snyder-Farmer post of the American Legion erected the 40-foot cross of cement and marble to recall the 49 men of Prince George’s County who died in World War I. The cross was dedicated on 13 July 1925, by the Legion. A bronze tablet at the base of the monument contains the unforgettable words of Woodrow Wilson: “The right is more precious than the peace; we shall fight for the things we have always carried nearest our hearts; to such a task we dedicate ourselves.” At the base of the monument are the words, “Valor, Endurance, Courage, Devotion.” At its heart, the cross bears a great gold star. In 1985 the government rededicated the cross as a memorial to honor all U.S. veterans of all wars.
The Assault
The memorial stood for almost 90 years without objection until the American Humanist Association filed a lawsuit in February 2014 alleging the cross-shaped memorial was unconstitutional and demanding it be demolished, altered, or removed. The association argued that the public ownership, maintenance, and display of the memorial violated the Establishment Clause. On their website, they outline their rationale for taking legal action:
The American Humanist Association is challenging this cross because we want the government to honor all veterans regardless of their religion. Equal sacrifices deserve equal honor. Veterans of all religious backgrounds and none sacrificed for our country—the AHA is attempting to ensure that the government honors them all.
The county can easily honor veterans without maintaining and displaying a Christian cross. Since the American Revolution, thousands of government-owned war memorials have been dedicated, and most do not use any religious iconography. These memorials are constitutional and inclusive, recognizing the service of all veterans regardless of their faith.
In October 2017, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, ruling that publicly funded maintenance of the cross was unconstitutional because it "excessively entangles the government in religion because the cross is the core symbol of Christianity and breaches the wall separating church and state."
Victory
First Liberty Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to religious freedom, and the law firm Jones Day defended the memorial at the U.S. Supreme Court. In June 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Constitutionality of the Bladensburg memorial in a 7–2 decision. With this important decision, the justices reaffirmed that the First Amendment allows people to use religious symbols and images in public. In his opinion for the majority, Justice Alito addressed close association of the cross with the First World War:
The cross is a symbol closely linked to World War I. The United States adopted it as part of its military honors, establishing the Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross in 1918 and 1919, respectively. And the fallen soldiers’ final resting places abroad were marked by white crosses or Stars of David, a solemn image that became inextricably linked with and symbolic of the ultimate price paid by 116,000 soldiers. This relationship between the cross and the war may not have been the sole or dominant motivation for the design of the many war memorials that sprang up across the Nation, but that is all but impossible to determine today. . .
Memorials took the place of gravestones for those parents and other relatives who lacked the means to travel to Europe to visit the graves of their war dead and for those soldiers whose bodies were never recovered. . . The image of the simple wooden cross that originally marked the graves of American soldiers killed in World War I became a symbol of their sacrifice, and the design of the Bladensburg Cross must be understood in light of that background.
Sources: AmericanLegion.org; FirstLiberty.org; American Legion et al. v. American Humanist Association et al., October 1918
What an amazing read! I’m glad The Supreme Court ruled in favor to keep the cross! To me it’s important because WW1 Americans were largely Christian, and the symbolism between the cross and WW1 go hand in hand. As Justice Alito said.
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