Supreme Court to consider whether war memorial 'endorses religion'

The Supreme Court has announced that it will hear oral arguments this term to consider if a 40-foot cross in Maryland endorses religion or is simply a secular memorial.

The cross in question sits at a busy intersection in the Washington suburb of Bladensburg, Maryland, and memorializes soldiers who died in World War I.

Last year, the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals based in Richmond, Virginia, ruled 2-1 that the 93-year-old monument is unconstitutional and must be removed or destroyed. "(It) has the primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government in religion."