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   From: ehollenbeck@cisco.com   
      
   Atheists are trying to oust the “Miracle Cross” from the 9/11   
   museum arguing that its inclusion would violate the   
   Constitution’s separation of church and state.   
      
   But Eric Baxster of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty told   
   MyFoxNY that the cross is part of the story of 9/11 and that   
   museums don't censor history.   
      
   “They tell history as it happened,” Baxster said.   
      
   The 17-foot cross-shaped beam was discovered in the devastation   
   at Ground Zero and became a symbol of comfort and hope after the   
   horrific terrorist attack.   
      
   But American Atheists say the cross is a part of religious   
   history and are challenging its inclusion in the new National   
   Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum which opens in May.   
      
   The group said the cross should not be in a museum that is on   
   Port Authority property and financed by taxpayers.   
      
   In arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan,   
   American Atheist’s lawyer Edwin Kagin said his organization is   
   seeking a similar object to be displayed at the museum,   
   something like a plaque that would say “atheists died here,   
   too,” the Religion News Service reported.   
      
   “We’re arguing for equal treatment in some way, whatever that   
   might be,” Kagin said after the hearing.   
      
   The museum's lawyer, Mark Alcott, told the court that rescue   
   workers took comfort in the cross and they prayed to it as a   
   religious object.   
      
   “But there is a difference between displaying an artifact of   
   historical significance and saying we want you [the public] to   
   bless it -- museum-goers understand that distinction” he said,   
   according to London's Telegraph newspaper.   
      
   The newspaper said Judge Reena Raggi appeared skeptical of the   
   claims by the atheist group.   
      
   “There are countless cases of museums including religious   
   artifacts among their exhibits and it’s going to be described in   
   a way that talks about the history of the object, what is the   
   problem here?” she said. “An argument has been made that you are   
   trying to censor history.”   
      
   Construction worker Frank Silecchia discovered the beam in the   
   smoldering wreckage of the World Trade Center towers. He told   
   the “Today” show that the cross comforted him, and it soon   
   became a rallying point for first responders, according to   
   Religion News Service.   
      
   “I was already working 12 hours. I was quite weary and the cross   
   comforted me,” Silecchia said. “I never stood here before any   
   media and said it’s about religion. But I say it’s about faith —   
   the faith that was crushed on 9/11.”   
      
   The cross will be part of a display that includes 1,000   
   artifacts in a 100,000-square-foot underground museum.   
      
   The appeals court is expected to make a decision in several   
   months.   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/03/09/atheists-want-iconic-17-   
   foot-cross-removed-from-11-   
   museum/?cmpid=edpick&google_editors_picks=true   
      
   Apparently atheists are not a very bright bunch.   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)