Angry Atheists at it Again: More Attacks No Substance

The President of American Atheists – the group suing to remove the Ground Zero Cross from a 9/11 museum – has taken note of the ACLJ’s efforts to protect the Cross and my article for the Washington Post pointing out the ridiculousness of the Atheists’ efforts to whitewash American history from all religious references. Well, sort of . . .

In his attack on the ACLJ – saying we “act like children” and are attempting to distract because we “cannot defend the case” – he somehow misses the point.

“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Protecting American Atheists” just takes the atheists' argument regarding the Cross to its logical conclusion. If we must remove the Cross from Ground Zero, we must also remove the dozens of other historic landmarks I listed in my article, in addition to the many other historic artifacts with religious significance that have been listed in the hundreds of comments that have come pouring in on the Post site and on the Jordan Sekulow Show Facebook page.

He apparently also fails to recognize that the ACLJ is representing Tim Brown, a firefighter and first responder who lost nearly 100 friends and co-workers on 9/11, in addition to over 85,000 Americans who have joined our brief in support of the Cross online alone.

I guess he missed the ACLJ legal team’s breakdown of this lawsuit. He must not have paid attention to my article exposing their preposterous legal argument, claiming upset stomach and mental pain and anguish from the mere “existence” of the Cross. We have provided legal arguments explaining that courts have repeatedly held that these kinds of “hurt feelings differ from legal injury,” and are routinely dismissed.

The President of American Atheists also misconstrues our argument, asserting that the ACLJ “cannot explain why Christians and nobody else should be honored at the WTC.” Really? The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is including many 9/11 artifacts in the museum, both artifacts from the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings and personal artifacts commemorating those who lost their lives that day.

That is exactly what this Cross is – an actual historical artifact, not a Christian artist’s rendering, but an actual piece of the 9/11 story. As our amicus brief, which we will be filing shortly, argues:

[The American Atheists] lawsuit represents a dangerous and unprecedented attempt to literally rewrite history and cleanse the record of a historically significant artifact. In the days and weeks following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the challenged World Trade Center Cross (the “Cross”) had a widely documented and positive effect on the First Responders at the Ground Zero site. It is entirely appropriate and lawful for the curators of a museum to acknowledge the Cross’s actual, historic role by placing it in the September 11 Memorial & Museum.

The law could not be more clear. In fact, the Supreme Court, in a case argued by my dad, ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, unanimously held that such historical artifacts and religiously themed museum exhibits are within the realm of appropriate government speech.

What’s interesting, in his rant against the ACLJ, the President of this organization doesn’t say we are wrong. In fact, the American Atheists commend our legal arguments in successfully permitting a 9/11 documentary to be shown in New York City parks.  But their President never once said that anything on the list of taxpayer-funded historical items with religious significance was incorrect, or whether his organization believes that they too should be removed from public display.

Instead, he inexplicably claims that the “ACLJ resorts to name calling,” but maybe that is because the ACLJ just exposed him and his organization for calling Jews “tokens” and claiming Christians want to “exploit” 9/11.

If this isn’t enough, don’t worry; your atheist attorneys will have plenty to respond to when we file our brief.