Maryland's Peace Cross - opinion echo

This echo opinion letter to the editor was published in the Baltimore Sun newspaper.

Visitors walk around the 40-foot Maryland Peace Cross dedicated to World War I soldiers in Bladensburg MD. (Kevin Wolf / AP)

MaineWriter -The debate about the Peace Cross is sad, because if the movement to somehow remove the monument should prevail, in my opinion, it could lead to the replacement of headstones in all veterans cemeteries, like Arlington and Normandy.

BLANDENSBURG, Maryland

It is truly amazing to me, as a Catholic, that we are turning to the Supreme Court to determine if the cross is a religious symbol (Baltimore Sun “Supreme Court to decide if cross can be a secular symbol,” Feb. 27). 

For Christians, how can it be anything else then a firm reminder that Jesus Christ died for our sins? It is a very powerful symbol in our lives. On the other hand, can it also be viewed as a memorial to other things of importance, like the dead of a war? Just something to write names on? Why not another form?

To the Romans, the cross was a method of execution and a terrible way to die. It had no other meaning, but 2,000 years later, it does have more of a religious symbolism due to the execution of Jesus Christ on a cross. Technically, there is a difference between a cross and a crucifix. The crucifix shows the body of Christ nailed to a cross where the bare cross is just a symbol of Christ’s death. 

But, in my opinion, I don’t believe they can be mentally separated.

I am a big supporter of the Peace Cross in Bladensburg and understand why it was erected to memorialize those who died in the First World war. Yet, I do see it as a Christian memorial of the dead and I find it heartbreaking that we are demeaning the Christian symbol of the cross by asking a court to rule on it. 

The Peace Cross belongs in our hearts and minds as Christians and not in the courts, as just a symbol of basically nothing more than something to write on.

Stas. Chrzanowski, Baltimore