NEW YORK – A famous Christian cross erected at the site of the 2001 terrorist attack in New York and then placed in a museum will not be taken down, an appeals court ruled Monday, after an Atheist group sued to have it removed.
American Atheists, Inc. had sued the New york and New Jersey Port Authority in 2011. The group challenged the display in the National September 11 Museum of an artifact denominated as “The Cross at Ground Zero,” a 17‐foot high column and cross‐beam retrieved from World Trade Center debris that gave many the impression of a Latin cross, a symbol associated with Christianity. The plaintiffs asserted that display of this artifact, particularly without any accompanying plaque or similar item acknowledging that atheists were among those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, or who participated in ensuing rescue efforts, violates the Constitution’s Establishment and Equal Protection Clauses, as well as parallel protections of New York and New Jersey state law.
Upholding an earlier district court ruling from 2013 – which threw the case out entirely – the the three-judge panel of the appeals court concluded that American Atheists’ challenge fails on the merits and does not violate the constitution.
After the ruling, an atheist tweeted “If a believer demands that I, as a nonbeliever, observe his taboos in public domain, he is not asking for my respect, but for my submission.”
The National September 11 Memorial and Museum opened in 2014 and displays artifacts associated with the events of 9/11, while presenting stories of loss and recovery. Children can enter the museum with a ticket that costs $15 and adults for $24.
[poll random]
We have anarchy or pretty close to it.
I can see that taking Christianity out of our Government was a huge mistake.
Establishment Clause? Not. When this country was founded it was never meant to be a pagan government. You folks need to check your history and what “freedom of religion” was really intended.
No way was America founded to become the immoral chaotic country it is now.
Can’t have it both ways and expect “of law”. Yep we are pretty close to anarchy.
Dam…
Well even if the Founding Fathers intended freedom of religion to narrowly be confined to different Christian denominations such as Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox, Baptist etc., they flubbed up, and I’m going to take their wording at face value. They didn’t say “denominations” they said “RELIGION”.
#maybe’s a genius at work. Don’t disturb him when he’s thinking. 🙂
leave me alone I am thinking. actually from what I read in peters post sounds like he has his own version of history and some is right but some has been changed alittle. Just like common core, they change some of history to match what they want to say.
I’d say as long as the non believers, pagans, Buddhists, and whatever other religious group is allowed equal “shrine time”, then it shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve wondered if the clear lake government would allow Buddhists to conduct “church in the park” like they do for Christians? It’s all about equality when it comes to religion. But with the government proper, NO RELIGION is to be respected.
@Philly-possibly you don’t respect the religion, but you should respect the rights of people to believe what they want. One of the best functions I ever went to was in Calgary, Alberta at Christmas where we had Vietnamese, African, European, Canadian and othe cultures all there in their traditional garb. What a great time we had and how colorful that was. Everyone respected everyone else.
I do respect the religion, but government shouldn’t, as per our Constitution.
Separation of church and state first of all was NOT in the constitution but in a letter that Jefferson wrote to a church. Another thing, separation of church and state was to keep the government out of the church and not the church out of the government.
“…and not the church out of the government.”
Whoa there…So which church should be in government? All of them?
And if you beleive that, then you have no problem with churches being taxed, eh?
back in the day Christianity was the religion of choice. There was quite a few other religions but Christianity was the most popular. Congress would start the day with a prayer and the laws they would pass they would do with God in mind. Things have certainly changed over the years.
Whoa Nellie! My HTML got away from me. Let’s try this again: ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE
“The Establishment Clause prohibits Congress from preferring or elevating one religion over another, but does not prohibit the government’s entry into religious domain to make accommodations for religious observances and practices in order to achieve the purposes of the Free Exercise Clause.”
They seem to think that only their rights count. It doesn’t matter if I like the cross being there, as long as they don’t like it. Ever hear of spooning someone yard? Someone should plant 1000 little crosses in their yard.
Good. If they don’t like it don’t look at it.