There's a 90 plus year old memorial to fallen soldiers of World War I in Bladensburg, Maryland. The memorial is in the form of a large cross. The US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit just ruled that it has to be taken down as it violates the First Amendment to the Constitution which calls for separation of church and state. The decision was 2-1, which only means that there was at least one judge on the court who understands what the First Amendment actually means. In truth, the court's decision is ridiculous.
Let's be clear: the First Amendment does not mean that there can be no religion on government property. Nor does it mean that any reference to God even through a specific religion is forbidden. It means that the federal government can't make a law to establish one religion as the state religion. In other words, unlike England, where the Church of England was the state religion when the Bill of Rights was passed, the USA was going to have freedom of religion. Any religion which an American wanted to follow would be allowed. Any American could choose or refrain without government mandate. As has often been said, freedom of religion is not freedom from religion. There is nothing about the monument in Maryland that changes any of this.
Without a doubt, the judges who ruled in this case were sworn in with their hands on a Bible. Will they next rule that they are not proper judges because their swearing in violated the First Amendment? The cash in their pockets says "in God we trust" on it. Will these judges next rule that all currency must be destroyed due to the First Amendment? Congress opens each session with a prayer led by different religious leaders. Is every law now unconstitutional because Congress prayed on the job?
A cross, even one that is 90 feet tall like the one in Maryland, is a symbol of Christianity. Every one of the soldiers listed on the memorial was a Christian. Is there something amiss here? Of course not. That cross does not make local Moslems, atheists or Jews into Christians. Nor does it mean that the government favors Christians over others.
The people who wrote the First Amendment and those who enacted that amendment would be astonished to hear that a court ruled that it required destruction of a memorial on public land because it is in the shape of a cross. The amendment was meant to bar government imposition of one religion on the people; it was not meant for some people to use it as a weapon against the reference to religion by others.
Let's be clear: the First Amendment does not mean that there can be no religion on government property. Nor does it mean that any reference to God even through a specific religion is forbidden. It means that the federal government can't make a law to establish one religion as the state religion. In other words, unlike England, where the Church of England was the state religion when the Bill of Rights was passed, the USA was going to have freedom of religion. Any religion which an American wanted to follow would be allowed. Any American could choose or refrain without government mandate. As has often been said, freedom of religion is not freedom from religion. There is nothing about the monument in Maryland that changes any of this.
Without a doubt, the judges who ruled in this case were sworn in with their hands on a Bible. Will they next rule that they are not proper judges because their swearing in violated the First Amendment? The cash in their pockets says "in God we trust" on it. Will these judges next rule that all currency must be destroyed due to the First Amendment? Congress opens each session with a prayer led by different religious leaders. Is every law now unconstitutional because Congress prayed on the job?
A cross, even one that is 90 feet tall like the one in Maryland, is a symbol of Christianity. Every one of the soldiers listed on the memorial was a Christian. Is there something amiss here? Of course not. That cross does not make local Moslems, atheists or Jews into Christians. Nor does it mean that the government favors Christians over others.
The people who wrote the First Amendment and those who enacted that amendment would be astonished to hear that a court ruled that it required destruction of a memorial on public land because it is in the shape of a cross. The amendment was meant to bar government imposition of one religion on the people; it was not meant for some people to use it as a weapon against the reference to religion by others.
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