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Atheist Group: 'Ground Zero Cross' An Insult
Talon News ^
| 09/10/03
| Jimmy Moore
Posted on 09/10/2003 7:26:35 AM PDT by bedolido
NEW YORK (Talon News) -- An atheist group is fighting an effort to place a cross at the site of the World Trade Center towers as a memorial to the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The American Atheists, which was begun by renowned anti-Christian activist Madalyn Murray O'Hare before she died, are opposed to displaying the 20-foot tall cross that was found by a rescue worker named Frank Silecchia in the midst of the rubble just a few days after the buildings collapsed.
Silecchia said he "cried for 20 minutes after his discovery," the Associated Press reported at the time. "Some people will say it's velocity of physics that put it there. To me, it's an act of God."
That cross, along with many smaller crosses around it, served as a source of comfort for many of the construction workers, firefighters, policemen, and family members of the victims in the weeks following the loss of thousands of American lives.
The cross bears the names of police officers and firefighters who gave their lives on September 11, 2001. Also inscribed on the cross are the words "God Bless Our Fallen Brothers."
Nevertheless, American Atheists has threatened to sue for the right to keep this cross from becoming a part of a World Trade Center memorial.
"Tax money must not be used to construct any sectarian memorial," remarked American Atheists President Ellen Johnson.
Johnson said allowing the cross in the memorial would "insult the victims, rescue workers, and other Americans who are not Christians, who do not believe in a deity, and are not religious."
The project developer, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, indicated previously that the cross should be included as part of the memorial display.
Supporters of the "Ground Zero Cross," as it has become known, believe it should be a part of the memorial as a lasting symbol and tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks.
Copyright © 2003 Talon News -- All rights reserved.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: New York; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: atheist; churchandstate; cross; ground; heroscross; purge; wtccross; zero
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To: Skooz
All everything is an invention of God.
To: SaveTheChief
I have heard there are penis statues in Japan where barren women pray for fertility. Not sure if this is Shinto or Bhuddist.
142
posted on
09/10/2003 9:22:24 AM PDT
by
xp38
To: stuartcr
Only because we didn't do it from the outset.
Were it part of our everyday life it would be no different than what we do now.
To: stuartcr
....this highlighted paragraph from the link, is what I was referring to.Again, I ask, that opinions offered by SCOTUS Justices are, in your estimation, not "official?" I beg to differ.
144
posted on
09/10/2003 9:24:22 AM PDT
by
mhking
(Aw, man! Get the Jello! Smear it all over the floor! "Get outta here chicken heart!!!")
To: commonerX
Yeah, sure Like, fer shur totally. Is "tubular" back yet? It's so boss, gear, bomb.
145
posted on
09/10/2003 9:24:41 AM PDT
by
Skooz
(All Hail the Mighty Kansas City Chiefs)
To: stuartcr
Of course not. I was being sarcastic. But people have a constitutional right under free speech to display it. We are forced to tolerate it, yet a small minority screams at a symbol of the religion shared by a majority of Americans -- and everyone jumps. Christians are being fired from jobs, being shunned by others by saying the words "God bless you." Where is their right to free speech?
Are athiests, muslims and minorities the only people able to make a case for being offended and having some kind of court-imposed protection? Where does that right exist in the constitution?
To: johnb838
So is God subject to the laws of physics?
To: xp38
I had heard the very same thing. In fact, I think they have a festival!
To: Bikers4Bush
Judging by the tools our ancestors had to use, my guess is they went the easiest way.
To: Bikers4Bush
Judging by the tools our ancestors had to use, my guess is they went the easiest way.
To: bedolido
[Ellen] Johnson said allowing the cross in the memorial would "insult the victims, rescue workers, and other Americans who are not Christians Nonsense, Ellen. Only a (very) small % of non-Christians get offended by such things.
To: SaveTheChief
A couple of notes:
1) I thought the penis was the symbol of baal. True?
2) Last night at the follies, Sharpie Sharpton made the statement that there is a non-military civil war going on in this country.
152
posted on
09/10/2003 9:29:11 AM PDT
by
johnb838
(Deconstruct the Left)
To: cryptical
God invented physics.
Some theologians would disagree, but I think God could make 1 + 1 = 3. But, that's just my unlearned opinion. I take the word "Omnipotent" quite literally.
153
posted on
09/10/2003 9:30:37 AM PDT
by
Skooz
(All Hail the Mighty Kansas City Chiefs)
To: mhking
I believe, Chancellor Kent was speaking as a Supreme Court Justice of the State of New York, not a Federal Judge.
To: johnb838
In your #1, I do not know what you are referring to.
In your #2, what was Sharpton specifically talking about? I missed the debate, as I have no time to listen to mental midgets.
To: cryptical
God Rules The Laws Of Physics. And He Can Break Them Any Time If He So Desires.
156
posted on
09/10/2003 9:32:43 AM PDT
by
johnb838
(Deconstruct the Left)
To: bedolido
"Tax money must not be used to construct any sectarian memorial," remarked American Atheists President Ellen Johnson. If I see this bitch at Ground Zero, I will (as Bob Grant used to say) "punch her dumb nose down her dumb throat ".
To: bedolido
Personally, this athiest group offends me. Not having a cross there offends me. Their attitude offends me. Heck, their audacity offends me as well.
Just who in the he!! do these people think they are to deny others the right to express their sympathy and condolances in their own way be it with a cross or not? That is an insult to every person in the world.
Mike
To: bedolido
the atheist group is the insult
159
posted on
09/10/2003 9:34:52 AM PDT
by
The Wizard
(Saddamocrats are enemies of America, treasonous everytime they speak)
To: NC Conservative
I wonder if O'hare is an atheist now. Where she is now she is in desperate need of air conditioning.
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