American Atheists is still in the middle of its lawsuit to prevent the Christian Cross from being displayed in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum (unless museum officials allow icons from all faiths and no faith to be included as well).

Meanwhile, Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) has found a way to give the two steel girders even more symbolic-and-after-the-fact meaning:

A New York congressman plans to introduce legislation that would make a national monument out of the so-called World Trade Center cross. … [Grimm] said the cross is “not about Christianity” and should be given national recognition even if it’s not in a museum. “This cross was a symbol of comfort and hope for 9/11 first responders, for families, for all those that were part of this horrific, horrific terrorist attack,” he told Fox News. “And it’s part of the healing process. It’s part of that closure, and it’s part of the history of that situation.” Grimm said he’ll introduce his bill to make the cross a national monument as soon as the House returns from its summer break Wednesday.

Surely, there are churches in the area that would love to have the cross. Let them have it. By putting one religion’s display (oh wait, they’re including a Jewish one, too!) at a venue that’s supposed to be a memorial for all Americans, they’re implying that non-Christians didn’t suffer as much as Christians did or that atheists and Muslims didn’t die in the attacks alongside the Christians, both of which are false.

The Cross doesn’t need to be in the memorial and it certainly doesn’t deserve “national monument” status. Hell, I’ll bet many Christians hadn’t even heard of this cross until a month or two ago when this story started making headlines (and I’ll bet most Christians still don’t know what it is).

It’s an unnecessary relic for the memorial — the fact that so many Christians are up in arms defending its inclusion just says to me that this is only a religious display that has little to do with the “history” of 9/11.



