Cross at ground zero draws complaints from atheist group

AP ^ | September 10, 2003

[Tailgunner Joe]

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A steel beam in the symmetrical shape of a cross — a remnant from the World Trade Center wreckage — has drawn criticism from an atheist group, which objects to the artifact being kept at ground zero as a religious emblem.

The trade center site is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the bistate governmental agency that also operates the region's three major airports and bridges and tunnels connecting the two states.

"Many people who died on September 11 weren't Christian. There were Jews, Muslims, and atheists who died," Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists based in New Jersey, told The Trentonian newspaper for Monday's edition. "This is a Christian religious advertisement, and allowing it to stay there is an insult to everyone who doesn't believe in that particular religion."

Johnson and her group, founded by the late Madelyn Murray O'Hare, is considering a lawsuit to prevent the beam from becoming part of any permanent memorial to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The beam was discovered two days after the attacks by construction worker Frank Silecchia as he searched for survivors.

A Franciscan priest, the Rev. Brian Jordan, blessed the cross and used it for months as a gathering place to celebrate Sunday Mass for ground zero workers and family members.

The names of fallen police officers and firefighters were also scribbled on the cross, along with the message "May God forgive their evil."

Almost two years later, the 20-foot cross remains along Church Street, the eastern border of the 16-acre site. A petition was undertaken to make it a part of a permanent memorial.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., a city-state group overseeing the rebuilding of the area, has made no decisions on what a ground zero memorial would include.

[Peach]

Here we go - liberal judges will insist this cross gets moved. Just wait.

[camle]

athiests aren't supposed to be religious. tell em to mind their own beezwax.

[usnret99]

Hummm These are the "tolerant" people correct... Well "tolerant" till it comes to Christianity that is....

[kegler4]

I ahven't heard of any Jews or Muslims complaining.

[LavaDog]

Freedom OF Religion

NOT Freedom from Religion.

[Lee Heggy]

"The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., a city-state group overseeing the rebuilding of the area, has made no decisions on what a ground zero memorial would include."

Hmmm..let's see, don't want to offend anyone...uh, silly putty is nice, everyone likes silly putty and maybe some ponies can't go wrong with ponies...how about a pen with some baby duckies...man, I just don't know...

[StatesEnemy]

Simply put, these people need as ass kicking.

Not figuratively either.

[Zack Nguyen]

If they are atheists, then it is just a piece of metal to them and they shouldn't care. But the reality is, they do care because it is the symbol of a religion and a moral code that condemns them. Perhaps some of them will come to see the truth.

[HenryLeeII]

Well, I would be upset by the lack of a religous symbol, especially one that represents the beliefs of the vast majority of the victims and their families. We should have a cross and a Star of David prominently displayed at Ground Zero. So, in order for the atheists to not impose their religous beliefs on others, I vote that we have the symbols there.

[newgeezer]

Atheists, schmatheists. Who cares?

Take a picture of it and let the losers tear it down. We know who wins in the end.

[T Minus Four]

[Held_to_Ransom]

Ground zero is not public property. It is owned by the Port Authority of New York.

[paul51]

If you don't like it you don't have to look at it.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

I complain that those atheists are stealing my air......the thieving ba$tards!!

My argument holds as much air as their argument.

[GOP_Proud]

...or acknowledge it.

[Held_to_Ransom]

This raises an interesting question. What sort of symbol would be appropriate there for an atheist? A flush toilet? Perhaps a vat of primordial chemical stew?

[Tailgunner Joe]

How about a murdered fetus?

[syriacus]

If the cross is not a meaningful religious symbol to atheists, then why in the heck do they object to it?

let's see...

Atheists don't believe in the importance of Christ's death on the cross.

Therefore they must see a cross as merely

• a historically correct symbol of [ancient Roman] cruelty or
• "two lines intersecting at right angles"

There can be no inconsistency in having a historically correct symbol of cruelty at a site where massive cruelty took place.

Therefore --- atheists must have some latent hatred of geometry.

Poor, poor atheists....just think how much telephone and electric poles must hurt their refined sensibilities.

[Mr. Silverback]

This is a Christian religious advertisement, and allowing it to stay there is an insult to everyone who doesn't believe in that particular religion."

Someone who is insulted by the very existence of a Star of David is a type of bigot called an anti-Semite.

Someone who is insulted by the very existence of a mosque is type of bigot called an Islamophobe.

So, a person who is insulted by the very existence of a cross is a kind of bigot called...