The war on Christianity rages on -- and to that, I’ll simply say, "Y’all need Jesus."
Judge Stephanie Thacker was one of the two U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals judges that determined that the World War I Veterans Memorial in Bladensburg, Md., commonly known as the “Peace Cross,” is unconstitutional because it’s a religious symbol.
The 40-foot cross was erected in 1925 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015 by the National Park Service.
However, Thacker wrote that government should basically be devoid of all religion, pointing out Christianity in particular.
“The monument here has the primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government in religion,” Thacker wrote. “The Latin cross is the core symbol of Christianity. And here, it is 40 feet tall; prominently displayed in the center of one of the busiest intersections in Prince George’s County, Maryland; and maintained with thousands of dollars in government funds.”
According to the Washington Times:
In 2014, the American Humanist Association filed a lawsuit asking for the cross to be demolished or altered, such as by removing its arms “to form a non-religious slab or obelisk.”
“Government war memorials should respect all veterans, not just those from one religious group,” Roy Speckhardt, the association’s executive director, said in a statement Wednesday. “Religious neutrality is important in a pluralistic society like ours.”
The flip side of Speckhardt’s supposed tolerance for all religions is that the American Humanist Association would like a society without religion at all. The masthead for their website says that the organization advocates for “progressive values and equality for humanists, atheists, and freethinkers.”
They are aware that you can be a freethinker and still believe in God, right?
According to the American Humanist Association’s website, “We strive to bring about a progressive society where being good without a god is an accepted and respected way to live life.”
But if the organization truly wants to be accepted and respected, then they should also accept and respect people who do believe in God instead of constantly trying to ruin people’s faith because they think they’re so enlightened.
The magnitude of this ruling could cause a ripple effect for other memorials displaying religious symbols.
The Washington Times also reported:
However, Judge Thacker added in a footnote: “It must be made clear that we are not deciding or passing judgment on the constitutionality of Arlington National Cemetery’s display of Latin crosses. Rather, we are merely distinguishing the facts at hand from those displayed at other places of commemoration.”
Ronald D. Rotunda, professor of jurisprudence at the Fowler School of Law at Chapman University in Orange, California, said if the logic of the court’s ruling is applied consistently, countless public memorials that contain religious references could be ordered to be altered or destroyed.
He said the court’s reliance on “fact-specific” judgments is “a fancy way of saying, ‘Trust us. We don’t make the legal rules. We should ban what we feel like banning, and we’re not going to ban Arlington Cemetery crosses right now.’”
Chalk this case up as another win for the “what are we offended by today” crowd.