Flight 93 Memorial: A Slap at Christians in America

FILE THIS UNDER "OH BROTHER"

:|In article <1126633488.933290.29750@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com> "Joseki" <joseki.BX@gmail.com> writes:
:|> Not to be rude, but so what?
:|>
:|> Do you honestly think even one American will change his faith to Islam
:|> on the basis of this memorial? That someone will see this alledged
:|> mineret and slap their forehead and go "Allah, protector of all, of
:|> course"?
:|>
:|> You are being silly. Perhaps some Americans who happen to be Islamic
:|> may feel a little more a part of this nation. Perhaps some rabid
:|> Christians will be disappointed that they have missed another
:|> opportunity of there thousands to paper the world with their crosses
:|> and fishes. But I think you overestimate the impact of this.
:|>
:|> Or maybe we aven't gone far enough. Ban the use of observatories
:|> during the cresent moon. Forbid the Red Cresent for operating in the
:|> US. Tear down all the mosques.
:|
:|Um, just to be scrupulous here, the original poster put this
:|up with a disclaimer" "FILE THIS UNDER `OH BROTHER'".
:|

Flight 93 Memorial: A Slap at Christians in America

FILE THIS UNDER "OH BROTHER"


ONE CAN SEE THE DESIGN HERE
----------------------------------------------------------------
Decide for yourself

Flight 93 memorial decried as Islam symbol
Memorial's crescent shape criticized as inappropriate

Saturday, September 10, 2005
By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05253/569055.stm
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Flight 93 Memorial: A Slap at Christians in America
By A.M. Siriano

A. M. Siriano is a developer of applications and websites who lives in
Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and three children. He is a die-hard
Christian, Protestant from both sides of the family, and a proud
right-winger.

Sep 10, 2005
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_2726664.shtml

Flight 93 Memorial: A Slap at Christians in America
By A.M. Siriano
Sep 10, 2005

The smoke at Ground Zero had not yet dissipated into the New York sky when
the world, including most of the liberals in our own land, started their
shrill complaints against President Bush and the American people and
launched a fresh blame-America-first campaign that continues to grow. A
week after the 9/11 Massacre, Bush made people cringe when he used the word
“crusade” to describe the new war we were now facing.

Since then there has been no end to the scrutiny of the left to ensure that
Muslims are treated with politically correct kid gloves. We are supposed
to be careful that we don’t say anything that might offend them and, for
the most part, we all do what we can to that end. Unfortunately, part of
that equation is the promotion of Islam and the squelching of
Judeo-Christian America.

We aren’t supposed to mind this. I do.

I can think of no greater affront to American honor than to slap a
blatantly Islamic symbol across a 9/11 memorial, but that is exactly what
is in the works. The winning entry for the Flight 93 National Memorial,
unveiled on September 7—just four days before the fourth anniversary of
9/11—includes both the Islamic symbol of the Crescent—the “Crescent of
Embrace”—and, more carefully disguised, a minaret-like structure called the
“Tower of Voices,” whose chimes continually “celebrate a living memory of
those who are honored.”

Flight 93 Memorial: A Slap at Christians in America

FILE THIS UNDER "OH BROTHER"


ONE CAN SEE THE DESIGN HERE
----------------------------------------------------------------
Decide for yourself

Flight 93 memorial decried as Islam symbol
Memorial's crescent shape criticized as inappropriate

Saturday, September 10, 2005
By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05253/569055.stm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flight 93 Memorial: A Slap at Christians in America
By A.M. Siriano

A. M. Siriano is a developer of applications and websites who lives in
Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and three children. He is a die-hard
Christian, Protestant from both sides of the family, and a proud
right-winger.

Sep 10, 2005
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_2726664.shtml

Flight 93 Memorial: A Slap at Christians in America
By A.M. Siriano
Sep 10, 2005

I can think of no greater affront to American honor than to slap a
blatantly Islamic symbol across a 9/11 memorial, but that is exactly what
is in the works. The winning entry for the Flight 93 National Memorial,
unveiled on September 7—just four days before the fourth anniversary of
9/11—includes both the Islamic symbol of the Crescent—the “Crescent of
Embrace”—and, more carefully disguised, a minaret-like structure called the
“Tower of Voices,” whose chimes continually “celebrate a living memory of
those who are honored.”

Just who is being honored is in question.

The Los Angeles-based architect who submitted this disgraceful design is
Paul Murdoch, who insists that no connection to Islam was intended, that
his memorial is “not about religion, per se,” but is to be a spiritual,
sacred place open to all. So is all this much ado about nothing, a mere
coincidence?

If you believe that, then you don’t understand the nature of artists, which
is what architects are. (Try to debate with them that they are not; you
will get an earful.)
A couple of years ago I worked with another type of artist, a graphic
designer, whose team was hired to design a website for a logistics firm.
The president of the firm expressly wanted his site to convey a spirit of
reliability. “When you go to this site,” he told them, “you should think
reliability, integrity, a solid company that you can trust.” The team
returned a week later with three or four variations for the homepage, and I
noticed that one design included an Oriental-style tree. Somewhat familiar
with symbols, I asked about it. How surprised I was to hear one of the
designers, a young lady, sheepishly say, “Well, that’s based on an old
Buddhist symbol for reliability.” (The president, an ex-Marine, stared at
her as if she had grown that tree out of the end of her nose.)

Architects—good ones like Paul Murdoch and his design crew—are fully aware
of the symbolism that they put into their work. The first order of
business is to make money, of course, which is why their design
incorporates various half-religious notions of sacredness and healing,
which appeal to people’s sentimentalism. But no one can tell me that it
never crossed their minds that the Crescent is the symbol of Islam, just as
the Cross is the symbol of Christianity. (Neither started out that way:
the Crescent was originally a pagan symbol, and the Cross was a favorite
torture device of the Romans.)

As one observer noted, plastering a Crescent across the landscape in
tribute to the heroes of Flight 93—to be seen clearly from the air—is like
building a memorial to the Holocaust victims in the form of a Swastika. Or
imagine the furor had we built the Pearl Harbor Memorial in a pattern that
reminded us of the Japanese war flag, with planes and ships extending,
beam-like, from a central orb.

The presence of “minaret” in the Memorial design is barely apparent, but
only because, living in a non-Islamic nation, we have no need to take note
of its function: it is used by the muezzin (crier) to call the faithful to
turn toward Mecca and pray. The minaret, five times a day, literally
becomes a “tower of voices.” Is connecting the Flight 93 Memorial tower to
an Islamic minaret a stretch? Not with the Crescent symbol in proximity.

Apparently the families of the Flight 93 victims are behind this
unanimously, which is both disappointing and disturbing. I have yet to
hear what Todd Beamer’s reticent wife, Lisa, has to say about it, but
regardless, this is not just about those families, but about America, and
every American must judge for himself. Go to the Memorial website

http://www.flight93memorialproject.org/crescent_of_embrace.asp

and view the slideshow. How many Christian or American symbols can you
find there? How many that represent Todd and Lisa Beamer’s faith and
patriotism?

I found one cross-like image, which appears to be on its side, but not an
American flag in sight.

I don’t know this country anymore. I am no conspiracy theorist, as anyone
who reads my work will admit, but I understand artists all too well,
especially liberal ones. If we are so easily duped with this sort of
garbage, we deserve exactly what is coming. But perhaps we’re just giving
the artists the benefit of the doubt. Well, let’s imagine that Murdoch
had, by naďve coincidence, incorporated a giant Cross in his designs, and
nearby a building that looked something like—by sheer chance, mind you—a
cathedral. Imagine the atheistic outcry from the left!

The fact is, that very thing has already happened, at Ground Zero itself,
when a Cross of Steel was found amidst the rubble and hoisted high for the
faithful to come and offer prayers. Some folks, like me, wanted to see
that Cross become a permanent fixture of the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan (it
never mattered to us if it was a natural or supernatural manifestation,
only that it was a worthy and comforting symbol).