This relates to the story about the atheist group suing to prevent the World Trade Center “cross” from being part of the 9/11 memorial. It goes back a while, but I just stumbled across it.
By the way, just to answer Silverman’s charge against “the god who couldn’t prevent the 9/11 terrorist attack,” my friend Kevin Hargaden addresses theodicy (how God is good in the face of so much evil) rather more bluntly than I have in this oldie-but-goodie about the St. Stephen’s Day Tsunami.
Brent, I think the whole idea that you can’t do anything to “offend” somebody else is ridiculous and, of course, totally contrary to the principles behind our “freedom of speech” guarantee in the Constitution. Also, if we want to go by being “offended,” I am offended that anyone would protest having a cross at the site; so, shouldn’t the atheist keep his mouth shut to avoid offending me?
Like Jon Stewart said, “Why would you care?” It’s not a matter of opinion or speculation or religious faith that this crossbeam did, in fact, symbolize comfort and hope to many people at Ground Zero. Maybe they were wrong, the atheist would say, to be so comforted, but it’s still an objective fact.