Via NYDN:
This cross was just too big to bear—at least for some Humanists.
The American Humanist Association filed a lawsuit Tuesday to tear down the Bladensburg Peace Cross, a 40-foot-tall World War I memorial in Bladensburg, Md.
The cross honors the memory of 49 Prince George’s County residents who died serving the country. Dedicated in 1925, the monument stands in a median at the busy intersection between Baltimore Avenue and Annapolis Road. It is lit every night.
According to the lawsuit, the AHA has no problem with memorializing America’s fallen soldiers. But the Washington, D.C.-based organization believes strongly in the humanist claim that people can be “good without God.” The group says the presence of a Christian religious symbol on public property violates the First Amendment clause prohibiting government from establishing a religion.
Steve Lowe is one of the plaintiffs in the case, who claims he is “upset” every time he drives by the cross, which is usually about once a month.
“He believes that the Bladensburg Cross associates a Christian religious symbol with the state and gives the impression that the state supports and approves of Christianity, as opposed to other religions, and that the state may even prefer Christians and Christianity over other religions,” the AHA complaint says. “As a non-Christian, Mr. Lowe is personally offended and feels excluded by this governmental message.”