9/11 Ground Zero Cross ― Support the Memorial!
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A new Rasmussen survey finds that 72% of Americans believe that the Ground Zero Cross should be included in the National September 11 Memorial and Museum ― further confirmation that the American Atheists’ lawsuit against the Ground Zero Cross is absurd. In the days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, some workers and mourners at the World Trade Center site seized upon a cross-shaped steel beam found amid the rubble as a symbol of faith and hope. For the past five years, the 17-foot-tall cross was displayed outside a nearby Catholic church. On Saturday it was moved again, to the site of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, where it is to be in the permanent collection. But the move quickly provoked a lawsuit from American Atheists, a nonprofit group based in New Jersey. It argued that because the cross is a religious symbol of Christianity and the museum is partly government financed and is on government property, the cross’s inclusion in the museum violates the United States Constitution and state civil rights law. The lawsuit, in turn, provoked the ire of the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative public interest law firm, as well as others. Now, the dispute over the “World Trade Center cross” is becoming the latest in a string of heated conflicts over how to memorialize the Sept. 11 attacks. It comes less than two months before the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and in the wake of a feverish debate over the construction of an Islamic cultural center and mosque within blocks of the trade center site. |
American Center for Law & JusticeThe ACLJ will file an amicus brief challenging the atheists’ claims by August 14th – in one week. If you join the Committee to Protect the Ground Zero Cross, your name will be added to the brief that will be submitted to the court.
In less than a week, over 30,000 people have already joined signed the online petition. The ACLJ has a goal of 72,000 by the time they submit the amicus brief ― 72,000 representing the 72% of Americans who support this important part of the Ground Zero story. It is critical that the people's support for the Ground Zero Cross be impress upon the Court and the Government so that it is preserved as a memorial for our children and grandchildren. The Ground Zero Cross is not an artist’s rendering that could be perceived as “offensive and repugnant” as the atheists claim in their suit; it is surviving steel ― an actual piece of 9/11 history. Hundreds of people, of all faiths, working amid the death and destruction resulting from the terrorist attacks found comfort and solace in this Cross rising out of the ashes. We cannot stand idly by and allow a few individuals to mock and hide an important piece of the Ground Zero story. If there are those who don’t like it – look the other way. |
 American Center for Law & Justice |
