Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

July 2, 2019

Jews Should Applaud the Supreme Court’s Decision against Banning Religious Symbols from the Public Square

Minority rights and the Bladensburg cross.

On June 20, the Supreme Court ruled that a 40-foot cross, erected in 1925 to commemorate those Americans who died fighting in World War I, could be allowed to remain on state property in Bladensburg, Maryland. The case originated with the American Humanist Society, which claimed that the cross’s presence on public land violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause. While some Jewish groups, most notably the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), objected to the decision, Jonathan Tobin argues that Jews should view it favorably:

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