Posted on 09/10/2005 1:14:53 PM PDT by wagglebee
A Pennsylvania pastor is fighting the newly approved design of the Flight 93 National Memorial, contending its crescent pattern is a symbol of Islam.
Rev. Ron McRae, head of the Bible Anabaptist Church near Jerome, Pa., about 55 miles from Pittsburgh, said a private group he formed might go to court to block the "Crescent of Embrace" memorial designed by Paul Murdoch Associates of Los Angeles.
"This is a memorial to the terrorists who killed those people, not a memorial to the folks who died there innocently," McRae told the Tribune-Democrat newspaper in Johnstown, Pa.
McRae of Conemaugh Township, Pa., is director and founder of the Lancaster-based Street Preachers Fellowship.
The heart of the memorial is a mile-long semicircle of red maples surrounding the place near Shanksville, Pa, where the flight's 40 passengers and crew were killed when the hijacked plane plunged into the ground Sept. 11, 2001.
The designer maintains he used the term crescent only in the architectural sense of a curved line.
"This is not about any religion per se," Murdoch told the Tribune-Democrat. "It's a spiritual space, and a sacred place, but it's open to anyone."
But McRae vows to fight it.
"They wouldn't dare put up the Ten Commandments or the cross of Christ, but they're going to put up a red crescent," he said. "We're not going to stand idly by and allow this to happen."
Several weblogs raised similar concerns about the design.
Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs asked: "Is this a coincidence, an example of amazing cluelessness, or something more deliberate?"
Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters said, "Can you imagine the outcry from the multiculturalists and the ACLU had the design incorporated a cross or a Star of David in honor of the victims? Why should we tolerate the Crescent that, inadvertently or deliberately, honors the terrorists?
Model of Flight 93 memorial
I have a feeling that the heroes who brought down the plane would want to see this travesty burned to the ground.
I would say that anything that could be twisted into a cresent would be in bad taste.
Give the trees a few years to grow and then take an arial picture in the fall. That picture would be all over the Arab world mo-ricky-tick.
The heroes of that flight do not deserve this slap in the face.
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/12596768.htm
Posted on Fri, Sep. 09, 2005
"Preacher vows fight over Flight 93 memorial design"
Associated Press
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "SOMERSET, Pa. - A Somerset County preacher vowed to fight the design of the Flight 93 National Memorial, insisting that the crescent pathway used in the design is a symbol of Islam.
"This is a memorial to the terrorists who killed those people, not a memorial to the folks who died there innocently," said the Rev. Ron McRae, leader of the Bible Anabaptist Church near Jerome, about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
"The crescent is as much connected to Islam as the cross is to Christianity," said McRae of Conemaugh Township, also listed as director and founder on the Web site of the Lancaster-based Street Preachers Fellowship.
McRae said the group may go to court to try to block the "Crescent of Embrace" memorial designed by Paul Murdoch Associates of Los Angeles. The design centers around a mile-long semicircle of red maples surrounding the point of impact, where 40 passengers and crew were killed when the hijacked plane crashed near Shanksville on Sept. 11, 2001.
Though not accepted by all Muslims, the crescent moon and star is an internationally recognized symbol of Islam and appears on the flags of many Muslim nations."
When the bullcrap starts at the top, don't be surprised how far it splatters when it rolls downhill.
"This is a memorial to the terrorists who killed those people, not a memorial to the folks who died there innocently," McRae told the Tribune-Democrat newspaper in Johnstown, Pa."
"Makin' a list. Checkin' it twice."
Now where's my little black book..... P A U L M U R D O ... etc...
THIS IS NOT A MISTAKE
THIS IS 100% INTENTIONAL
I BET THIS WAS SUBMITTED AND APPROVED BY THE BLAME AMERICA FIRST CROWD.
THIS IS DISGUSTING.
Unbelievable! The UN would likely want to make this a World Heritage site and demand we keep those trees protected.
I say let the victims kinfolk have their say...
Contacts:
Paul Murdoch Architects
5150 Wilshire Blvd., #504
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-931-2271/p
323-931-9203/f
info@paulmurdocharchitects.com
http://www.paulmurdocharchitects.com/
http://www.flight93memorialproject.org/
This is a joke, right? How have the families of those heroes on board that plane allowed this to happen?
http://www.flight93memorialproject.org/contactus.asp
Let the National Park Service know how we feel about this outrage:
By Phone
Superintendent - Flight 93 National Memorial
(814) 443-4557
By Fax
(814)443-2180
The families of Flight 93 need to stand up. The designers and the committee that approved the design need to be told exactly where to stick it.
This is disgusting. I'm not sure contacting the architects - the idiots who thought this up - will work. Is there anybody else we can contact?
I am totally aghast. Why memorialize the killers? I honestly can't think of a more inappropriate memorial.
Look like this is Teresa Heinz' doing...
http://www.flight93memorialproject.org/competition_overview.asp
The Flight 93 National Memorial Design Competition has been funded through the generous support of the Heinz Endowments and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
This is what happens when our government insists that our enemies (who are trying to kill us) are members of a "religion of peace."
Right like these guys.
India town buries U.S. Muslim soldier slain in Iraq
Reuters ^ | 9/4/04
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1477079/posts
"I Punched Saddam in the Mouth"
River Front Times ^ | April 13, 2005 | CHAD GARRISON
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1391805/posts#6
Thanks! I'm writing to the Park Service. Is there anybody else in charge of this?
You're trying to make exceptions seem like the rule. Get over it already, chump.
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