Ground Zero Cross: Atheist Group Must Explain Why its ‘Offensive’, Court says
NEW YORK, NY (Worthy News)– The September 11 Memorial Museum opened last month controversially as a 17-foot-tall steel beam ‘cross’ was part of its exhibit. However, atheists find the cross objectionable and filed a lawsuit to have it removed. Now, a federal appeals court told the atheist group they must provide a better explanation why the artifact is offensive and violates members’ constitutional rights.
The judge has now given the plaintiffs until July 14 to file supplemental legal briefs before deciding whether the case will proceed. Among the questions that must be answered in the new filings is how the offensiveness of the cross, which the plaintiffs view as a Christian symbol for all 9-11 victims, becomes a “constitutional injury.”
The other question is — if the plaintiffs indeed feel displaying the cross “marginalizes them as American citizens” — then how is that a “particular and concrete injury” compared to just “the abstract stigmatization of atheists generally.”
The judge has also asked the plaintiffs to substantiate their claim the museum and Sept. 11 memorial are getting taxpayer dollars.
“Taking personal offense is not an injury that warrants invoking the power of the courts to shut down everything you disagree with,” Baxter also said. “The Constitution is not a personal tool for censoring everyone’s beliefs but your own.” — Source
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Ground Zero cross a powerful symbol for 9/11 museum – USA Today
It was a remnant of the World Trade Center’s North Tower, a 17-foot-high cross-section of steel I-beams that had plummeted into the shell of an adjacent office building two days earlier. In the sad days and years to come, what became known as the Ground Zero Cross inspired people around the world as it was moved from site to site in Lower Manhattan. Its odyssey finally brought it to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, which will be dedicated Thursday.