First Liberty Briefing: Bladensburg Refusal Could Lead to the Tear Down of Other Memorials

Bladensburg Refusal Could Lead to the Tear Down of Other Memorials

Memorials are symbols meant to remind the living of the sacrifice of our fallen soldiers and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision to deny an en banc review of the Bladensburg Veterans Memorial could be setting a dangerous precedent. Learn more at Firstliberty.org/Briefing.

Thank you for joining us for the First Liberty Briefing, an exclusive podcast where host Jeremy Dys—also First Liberty Senior Counsel—provides an insider’s look at the stories, cases, people and laws that have made America the world’s leader in protecting religious liberty.

Veterans’ memorials are symbols meant to remind the living of the service and sacrifice the fallen made for freedom.

That is why Gold Star mothers in 1919 started work on the Bladensburg World War I Veterans’ Memorial.  They did not want the world to forget the sacrifice their sons made.  So, they, along with The American Legion, erected a cross-shaped memorial.

The design mirrored the universally accepted symbol erected over the thousands of graves of men who died in Europe defending freedom.  No one complained for almost 100 years.

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit refused to overturn an opinion of a panel of that court that would direct a federal district to consider whether the monument should have it’s horizontal arms removed or be razed to the ground completely.

Such a decision sets a dangerous precedent for veterans’ memorials across America. If this decision stands, other memorials will be targeted for destruction as well.

We will appeal this case to the U.S. Supreme Court. I encourage you to go to DontTearMeDown.com and join us in defending this memorial to the 49 men of Prince George’s County, Maryland killed in the line of duty during World War I.

We forget what we do not see.  Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, the Bladensburg memorial and similar memorials in close by in Arlington National Cemetery may disappear as well.

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First Liberty Institute is the largest organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to protecting religious freedom for all Americans. Find out more here.

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