Republished October 18, 2017 - 8:38 AM
Original Publication Date October 18, 2017 - 7:41 AM
RICHMOND, Va. - A federal appeals court has found that a towering cross on a Maryland state highway median just outside Washington violates the U.S. Constitution.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Richmond ruled Wednesday that the 92-year-old monument known as the Bladensburg cross amounts to government sponsorship of a particular religion. The court overturned a 2016 ruling that said it was meant mostly as a secular commemoration of World War I.
The American Humanist Association said the 40-foot (12-meter) tall cross endorses Christianity while ignoring non-Christian veterans.
The 4th Circuit said it "excessively entangles the government in religion" because the cross is the "core symbol of Christianity" and "breaches" the wall separating church and state.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017