[mc5cents]

"would violate the separation of church and state, be insensitive to those victims who had no religious beliefs and would incredibly pay homage to religion – the prime motivating factor in the faith-based attack of Sept. 11."

If I hear that phrase "...violates the separation of church and state..." one more time I'm going to lose it!
But anyway, that "homage to religion" remark got to me. Islam, IMHO, is NOT a religion. It is a cult which preaches intimidation and murder of the non-believers, i.e., us infidels. It has nothing to do with religion.

[alancarp]

That's fair: God doesn't believe in atheists either (think about it for a sec).

[CecilRhodesGhost]

What about the separation of church and state? If one religion's symbol (ie cross, star of david, etc) is allowed to be an official part of an official govt. site, then doesn't that open up dangerous issues for future endeavors? The fundamentalists in any religion should not dictate the tone or decorations for a public govt. memorial, or should they? How does one religious symbol gain acceptance, as opposed to others? As a global community, some argue that fundamentalist around the world (fueled by any religion) are a major cause of wars and bloodshed. Should all religions be equated with the same worldwide hope for peace, and treated as one universal belief? For globalism to function well, all people need to put aside their religious differences and preferences. That might be the reason some residents are protesting the proposed addition of a Christian symbol. There are two sides to every coin, and as the world shrinks, we can not afford to pretend that there is only one-side.

[hobbes1]

Johnson said that her group would go to court if necessary to challenge the use of government money for the placement of any religious symbol at the WTC site.

OK.... I say a group of us get together, and instead, plant those crosses in their Heathen Asses.

[Sloth]

Somebody remind me, who owns the land there? The Port Authority?

[1Old Pro]

Sheesh. If they believe in nothing then we will plant nothing in the ground for them. Thus we now have equality and they can sit down and shut up.

[gridlock]

"This is an inappropriate use of taxpayer money," she said in the statement, "You can't take government funds to promote religion, especially sectarian religion in the form of a cross or any other religious symbol."

It is not the use of taxpayer money that is objectionable. Rather it is the use of taxpayer money that allows the athiests to use the courts to try to influence what is done. For this reason, I think that there should be not one thin dime of taxpayer money spent on the memorial. It can and should be financed strictly through private donations. Any taxpayer funded memorial will be an amalgam of such PC offend-nobody blather that it will be offensive to anybody with half a brain. The government corrupts everything it touches, and it should have no role here.

The cross should definitely be part of the memorial. I see it's function as being the same as the British ceremony of The Trooping of the Colors. In The Trooping of the Colors, the soldiers are lined up and the regimental flag is carried by a rider around the formations so that each and every soldier can get a good look at it. It is all done with great pomp and pagentry, but it serves a very real purpose, which is to make sure that each soldier can recognize the colors instantly in the heat of battle, and know who is friend and who is foe.

The battle is coming for us. We should troop the colors now, so when the conflagration is upon us we know who to fight and who to defend. When it comes down to Crosses and Crescents, I'm getting behind the Cross.

[DoctorMichael]

If you don't like the program's content, just change the channel!!!!!!

Whoops, sorry! Wrong arguement. THATS what they always tell us.

My bad.

[The_Reader_David]

Tell them to stick it in their ear. The attack on the WTC and Pentagon was not just an attack on America, but an attack on Christendom as OBL's bizzare little speach in which he promoted President Bush to the status of Christian Emperor shows.

Shortly after the attack an OBL video spoke of the world being divided into the "camp of Islam" and the "camp of the cross lead by President Bush".

If they don't like the cross as a religious symbol, we can always cite that speech and tell them it's an act of defiance against the attackers.

The troparion of the Holy Cross seemed to have the ring that it must have had in the days when Constantinople was under threat when we sang it three days after the attacks:

O God save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance, granting to Thy people victory over all their enemies, and by the power of Thy Cross protect Thy community.

(The democratized version sung in America--the old version asked victory for our believing kings.)

[ppaul]

Ron Barrier, national spokesman for the group, stressed that Muslims, Hindus and other non-Christians were killed in the attacks as well.

So?!!
Instead of a cross, how about a cowboy boot?

[NYer]

The following story originally appeared in the Journal News.

It came in the way of a secular story. There in the Journal News servicing suburbs of New York was a column about photographers who spotted a strange man near the World Trade Center on September 18. They had tried to snap pictures of him playing his trumpet in the wake of the disaster, said the newspaper, but their shutters jammed mysteriously. 

One of the witnesses was a well-known photographer who goes by the name of Miklos. As reported by the newspaper, which we linked to last week, "After hearing a report about the trumpeter on WNYC radio, Miklos said, he went to Ground Zero to photograph him. In the eerie quiet of lower Manhattan, he could hear a trumpet as he approached a police barricade. About 150 yards away, Miklos says, the trumpeter stood 'in this abandoned urban canyon, illuminated by shafts of light caused by the smoke and dust.'" 

The article went on to say that Miklos raised his telephoto lens, feeling he had "an incredible image" -- the photograph of a lifetime -- but he couldn't depress the shutter and so never got the shot. 

Other photographers, one describing "something so special about this guy," reported the same experience. And one man who looked into the matter, Mark Judelson, executive director of the Arts Council in Rockland County, N.Y., wondered publicly if it was an angel -- in particular, the Archangel Gabriel, who is so often pictured with a trumpet. 

Could it really have been an angel? And was the trumpet of major significance?

Obviously, we'll never get to the bottom of this story -- not without a photo of the stranger -- but experiences with mysterious people have been circulating for years. Many such accounts mention specifically this: Gabriel's trumpet.

[He Rides A White Horse]

Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists objects to the possibility that the cross might be used in a taxpayer-supported project.

"This is an inappropriate use of taxpayer money," she said in the statement

Ellen probably thinks chopping babies up in the womb is an appropriate use of taxpayer's dollars. So to Ellen and people like her, I say, "I don't care what you think anymore". Time to do what we want. Over the objections of sniveling little ingrates like Ellen.

[myrabach]

So okay, the atheists or whatever can fight this on government money being spent on the memorial. Well, hows about contributions from private citizens to keep the cross in an area funded by private citizens? We have a few people in government that might make this happen. The cross should stay there, there can be no argument about that. It has been a strength and enduring symbol to those who worked there daily.

[rwfromkansas]

These people are bastards. I don't know what else to say of them.

[Aeronaut]

Describing itself as a "nationwide movement which defends the civil rights of nonbelievers," the group said in a statement yesterday that use of the cross in a government-funded monument "would violate the separation of church and state, be insensitive to those victims who had no religious beliefs and would incredibly pay homage to religion – the prime motivating factor in the faith-based attack of Sept. 11."

Note to the athiests: That particular phrase does not appear anywhere in the US Constitution.

[Alabama_Wild_Man]

"...to challenge the use of government money for the placement of any religious symbol at the WTC site..."

They're gonna be busy!!

Any wagers on how many pieces of Steel CROSSES each other in the City of New York, alone ?? ?? ??

. . . Idiocy knows no bounds . . .

[cake_crumb]

Johnson said that her group would go to court if necessary to challenge the use of government money for the placement of any religious symbol at the WTC site."

Al Qaeda indulges in one form of religious terrorism, in order to force the entire world to convert to their faith...this is just another form of religious terrorism...to force the world to convert to her LACK of it.

That cross became the symbol of the 9-11 atrocity at the WTC within weeks of the attack. It is now an internationally recognized piece of history in association with 9-11, as is the pic of the firefighters hoisting the flag. As such, these two pieces of AMERICAN HISTORY must be equally preserved in any memorial, regardless of the demands of wacko religious groups...and ANTI religious groups.

If it comes to it...I say we put it to a vote on November's ballot. We'll see who wins: the will of the people, or the will of yet another quasi-religious wacko group.

[ChiMark]

Just do it. It's time to ignore these anti everything do nothings. Defy them to remove the crosses! Civil disobedience from the right.

[Britton J Wingfield]

I'm agnostic, and I like the cross just fine.

[Future Snake Eater]

"Christian symbols are as inappropriate as a Muslim crescent or some other religious label," Barrier said

It's a Christian country, dipsh!t! I can't stand these idiots.