It is well-settled law that the 14th Amendment "incorporated" the First Amendment (and several others) against the states. To the same extent that the Federal government cannot establish a religion or restrict the free exercise thereof, neither can the states/localities. Are you suggesting that the states may establish a religion or restrict the free exercise thereof? Could a city require a person to sign a statement attesting to the fact that they believe that Christ is their lord and personal savior, as a condition of receiving a building permit?
You still have not answered my question - under your law, would a synagogue built near the WTC site be required to have a 40-foot cross on it?
It's not in the language of the statute is it?
Hmmm?
It's also well settled law that a woman has a "Constitutional Right" to kill her posterity in the womb. Is that the way you view the constitution? Is it your position that the Constitution means what the Supreme Court says it means?
Are you suggesting that the states may establish a religion or restrict the free exercise thereof?
Well to be honest, from a strict reading of the Constitution and the language of the First and 14th Amendments, I don't see any such prohibition. Frankly I don't think the history of the 14th Amendment suggests that it was the intention of the drafters of that amendment to give the entire bill of rights guarantees to citizens of the several states. And neither have the courts so concluded (especially in regard to the 2nd amendment). The courts have more or less cherry picked the rights from the Bill of Rights to attach to the fourteenth amendment and unless it was the intention of the framers of the 14th Amendment to include all of the rights in the Bill of Rights to the citizens of the several states, then I don't think you can say that it was their intention just to include the first amendment.
You still have not answered my question - under your law, would a synagogue built near the WTC site be required to have a 40-foot cross on it?
Well under the equal protection clause, if you grant an exception to one building, you might have to grant an exception to all buildings. If you started granting all these exceptions based on religious expression, then you wouldn't be able to achieve your purpose of putting up memorials on the buildings surrounding your historical landmark.
FWIW, I also would have no problem if the city decided to mark the buildings with a 40 foot Star of David rather than a cross and if some Christian church decided to build a 16 story cathedral in the midst of the historical district, then they would, of course, have to comply or they would be denied a building permit.
Both the cross and the Star of David are traditional AMERICAN symbols of respect for the dead.