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On Thursday, the Supreme Court in American Legion et. al. v. American Humanist Association, decided that the Bladensburg Peace Cross, which was erected nearly 100 years ago and has stood on public land in Maryland for roughly 50 years, does not violate the Establishment Clause. This decision should be celebrated, but the reasoning that the Court used does not entirely protect religious monuments or other displays in the future. Seven of the justices decided that the Cross does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. However, this was a plurality decision, which means there was not a majority...

A large cross in Bladensburg, Maryland has been a source of controversy for years as we awaited the Supreme Court's decision on whether the symbol can continue to stand. A local post of The American Legion erected the Bladensburg Peace Cross in 1925. To most, the statue was dedicated to the memory of 49 local heroes who gave their lives serving in the U.S. Armed Forces in WWI. To the Humanist Association, it was an unconstitutional eyesore. They sued in 2014 arguing the cross violated the Establishment Clause and demanded its removal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth...

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that a 40-foot tall cross erected on public property in Maryland does not violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. In a decision released Thursday morning, the high court ruled in American Legion v. American Humanist Association that a cross in Bladensburg meant to honor World War I soldiers did not have to removed, overturning a lower court decision. Justice Samuel Alito authored most of the multi-part majority opinion, being joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer, and Brett Kavanaugh joined. Justice Clarence Thomas filed a concurring opinion,...

COLDSPRING, TX – Elected officials in an East Texas community defiantly illuminated the crosses on their courthouse after an atheist organization told them to take them down. The move came after the county judge and commissioners voted unanimously to keep the four crosses on the county building. Breitbart News reported that the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) complained to San Jacinto County public officials about the prominent display of the “Latin cross[es].” The self-described “state/church watchdog” claims it has over 30,000 members. The foundation issued an “Action Alert” to its supporters on May 7th saying, “A concerned Coldspring resident...

A new Einstein cross is discovered March 18, 2019, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias The newly discovered Einstein Cross J2211-3050. An elliptical galaxy (the yellow object)  is acting as a lens, producing the four blue objects (marked ABCD) that are the images of a galaxy about 3 times more distant. With GTC it was possible to isolate and disperse the light of objects ABC, demonstrating that they belong to the same light source. Credit: Hubble Space Telescope Credit: Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias This study, which has combined images from the Hubble Space Telescope with spectroscopic observations from the GTC,...

His Eminence Metropolitan Panteleimon of Krasnoyarsk and Achinsk celebrated the rite of consecration of the tallest memorial cross in Russia on Drokino Mountain at the border of Krasnoyarsk with the Emelianovsky Region today, reports the press service of the Krasnoyarsk Diocese. At a height of 154 ft., the stainless steel cross is the tallest in Russia and the third tallest in the world. It was designed to become the new symbol of Krasnoyarsk. Located at the symbolic “gate” to the city, it is perfectly visible to those entering the city by plane, train, or automobile. The cross was erected...

Court signals it may change church-state doctrine WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court gave hope Wednesday (Feb. 27) to at least some defenders of a 40-foot cross on public land that it might not only protect the memorial but clarify its doctrine on government establishment of religion. The justices heard oral arguments in the appeal of a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that a Latin cross in memory of World War I soldiers promotes Christianity, thus violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment under a nearly 50-year-old test. The American Humanist Association (AHA) challenged the constitutionality of...

February 27, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – The United States Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments Wednesday on whether a World War I-era memorial in Maryland must be removed from public land on religious grounds, in a case that could have ramifications for countless disputes over benign religious imagery and the First Amendment. The Peace Cross in Bladensburg is a 40-foot structure completed in 1925, which is “dedicated to the heroes of Prince George's County, Maryland who lost their lives in the Great War for the liberty of the world” according to an inscription on an accompanying tablet. The sides are inscribed...

The ‘Peace Cross,’ a 93-year-old World War I memorial, may be torn down unless Supreme Court Acts (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court asking the court to reverse a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which ruled that government recognition and upkeep of a World War I memorial cross is in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution. ( The American Legion, et al. v. American Humanist Association, et al.; Maryland National Capital Park and...

The Supreme Court will decide the constitutionality of a towering cross-shaped memorial to Maryland men who died in the First World War. The Supreme Court agreed in early November to hear the case in which the American Legion is asking the high court to reverse a 2017 appeals court ruling that the memorial violates the First Amendment’s prohibition on governments establishing religion. Overturning a lower court’s decision, the Fourth Circuit panel said the memorial, which stands on public land, is unconstitutional because it “excessively entangles the government in religion.” The case may be a gauge for the conservatism of the...

The Allegheny County Democrat Party in Pennsylvania has forced the resignation of its executive director after just one month on the job, for a pair of social media postings, including one expressing reverence for the American flag and Christian cross. The party hired Marine and Gulf War veteran Mark Salvas as executive director in September, CBS Pittsburgh reports, but asked him to resign last week after uncovering a year-old Facebook post declaring, “I stand for the flag, I kneel at the cross”; and a July post in which his wife sought donations for the legal defense of a police officer...

The ancient mythical Greek island of Lesbos is today better known as anchorage ground for human traffickers and the problems and conflicts that have arisen in connection with the boat traffic. It is now reported that a large cross monument on the Greek Orthodox Christian island has been levelled to the ground. This after a group claiming to promote intercultural coexistence argued that the cross could be perceived as offensive to the predominantly Muslim boat migrants. The cross monument was built on the cliffs of Apellia, beneath the castle of Mytilene, in memory of people who have died in the...

Red Greater Double “THROUGH THEE the precious Cross is honored and worshiped throughout the world.” Thus did St. Cyril of Alexandria apostrophize our Lady on the morrow of that great day, which saw her divine maternity vindicated at Ephesus. Eternal Wisdom has willed that the Octave of Mary’s birth should be honored by the celebration of this Feast of the triumph of the holy Cross. The Cross indeed is the standard of God’s armies, whereof Mary is the Queen; it is by the Cross that she crushes the serpent’s head, and wins so many victories over error, and over...

Fr. Antonio Spadaro slams proposed bill as anti-Muslim political stuntROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - A close advisor to the Holy Father is opposing a move in Italy to put crucifixes in public buildings. Italian Jesuit Fr. Antonio Spadaro is a writer and journalist, currently the editor-in-chief of the Jesuit-affiliated journal La Civiltà Cattolica. In the Vatican, he is a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Secretariat for Communications. Father Spadaro has stated his opposition to a bill in Italy that would require public institutions such as ports, hospitals and universities to display a crucifix on their premises. In a...

A restaurant based in Indianapolis, Indiana, allegedly asked one of its customers to leave for wearing a necklace containing a large cross. Jerry Bond, who patronized Kilroy’s Bar N’ Grill with his minister and a few friends, claims a bouncer asked him to remove his cross necklace or leave the restaurant. “The bouncer comes back over, really bad attitude, [and says] ‘We’re going to ask you to either tuck your necklace, remove it or you have to leave,” Bond told WRAL. “I’m not going to tuck my cross in because of my beliefs. I believe in wearing this cross and...

The body of a man buried in northern Italy 2,000 years ago shows signs that he died after being nailed to a wooden cross, the method used for the execution of Jesus described in the Christian Bible. Although crucifixion was a common form of capital punishment for criminals and slaves in ancient Roman times, the new finding is only the second time that direct archaeological evidence of it has been found. A new study of the skeletal remains of the man, found near Venice in 2007, reveals a lesion and unhealed fracture on one of the heel bones that suggests...

Red Double of the Second Class IT WAS MOST JUST that our Divine King should show himself to us with the scepter of his power, to the end that nothing might be wanting to the majesty of his empire. This scepter is the Cross; and Paschal Time was to be the Season for its being offered to him in glad homage. A few weeks back, and the Cross was shown to us as the instrument of our Emmanuel’s humiliation, and as the bed of suffering whereon he died; but has he not, since then, conquered Death? and what is...

Cardinal Reinhard Marx has said directing all state buildings to hang crosses amounts to "expropriating the cross in the name of the state." Bavarian Premier Markus Söder sparked nationwide criticism for the move. The head of the German Bishops' Conference has sharply criticized the premier of the southern German state of Bavaria for ordering Christian crosses to be hung in all state buildings.Cardinal Reinhard Marx told German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung on Monday that Premier Markus Söder's order had sparked public "division, unrest and animosity."Söder issued the directive — set to enter into force on June 1 — on Wednesday. On...

White Double SPLENDIDLY ADORNED with the sacred sign of the Passion, Paul of the Cross comes today to pay homage to the Conqueror of Death. It behooved Christ to suffer and so enter into his glory. It behooves the Christian, the member of Christ, to follow his Head in suffering that he may share his triumph. Even as a child Paul penetrated deeply into the ineffable mystery of the suffering of a God. He was filled with an ardent love for the cross, and ran with giant strides along this royal road. He passed through the torrent, following his...

Bavaria has ordered Christian crosses to be hung at the entrance of all of its regional government buildings, it has emerged. The German state's government said the crosses should not be seen as religious symbols, but are meant to reflect the southern state's 'cultural identity and Christian-western influence'.