The National September 11 Memorial & Museum wants to smite a group of godless activists opposed to its planned display of the famed World Trade Center cross.
In court papers, the museum says American Atheists Inc. doesn’t have a prayer of proving that the iconic, cross-shaped steel beam will impose religion “through the power of the state.”
The Manhattan court filing seeks to toss out a lawsuit the atheists filed last year over claims that inclusion of the 17-foot-tall “artifact” in the museum’s collection would violate the First Amendment.
“As a threshold matter, the 9/11 Museum is an independent non-profit corporation,” court papers say.
“Its curators’ decisions to display particular objects, such as the artifact, in the museum are not state actions to which Constitutional protections apply.”
Plans call for the cross of steel beams — found in the rubble two days after the Twin Towers fell — to be displayed in a section of the underground museum titled “Finding Meaning at Ground Zero.”
According to the museum, the cross is an “important and essential artifact” that “comprises a key component of the retelling of the story of 9/11, in particular the role of faith in the events of the day and, particularly, during the recovery efforts.”
“After its discovery, the artifact was venerated by certain workers during the course of the rescue and recovery operation at Ground Zero, including in religious services conducted by a priest,” the court papers say.
“Many of them came to regard the artifact as a source of comfort and spiritual symbolism during their time at Ground Zero, and they treated it as such.”
The museum also blasts the atheists for suggesting that a “17-foot-high A for Atheists” or an American Atheists lapel button also be included in its exhibition.
“It is not irrational for the 9/11 Museum not to feature those items in the museum; as [museum director Alice] Greenwald explained, the 9/11 Museum is ‘not in the business of providing equal time for faiths, we are in the business of telling the story of 9/11 and the victims of 9/11,’ ” the court papers say.
A lawyer for American Atheists Inc., Edwin Kagin, declined to comment, citing a gag order imposed in the case.