Editorial: WTC cross is part of the story
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 23: Workers prepare the World Trade Center cross to be moved into its permanent home at the 9/11 Memorial Museum after a blessing ceremony on July 23, 2011 in New York City. Credit: Getty/Mario Tama
For God's sake. A group of atheists is suing to keep two girders from the World Trade Center that melded into a cross formation out of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.
American Atheists, a New Jersey-based nonprofit, argues that because the museum is partly government supported, exhibiting the cross violates the U.S. Constitution and state law. The group says either the cross should be removed or every belief should be granted an equal exhibit.
The steel girders, found at right angles in the rubble days after the attacks, were used for prayer and in services at Ground Zero, and gave solace to some working the pile. They are history, a relic created by the attack and meaningful in its aftermath.
Separation of church and state exists to prevent the government from imposing or favoring a religion. It does not ban religious symbols from being displayed in a historical and cultural context, particularly in a museum. Frivolous suits like this one only undermine genuine complaints about the intrusion of religion in public life.
American Atheists' suit argues the exhibit would cause "dyspepsia, depression, headaches, anxiety and mental pain and anguish" by making them feel excluded from the ranks of those who suffered that day. It's a silly argument. We all suffered that day, and nothing in the museum can change that.
Exhibiting these girders violates no rights. The cross is a true part of the story the museum will strive to tell. hN
