WHAT: DEMONSTRATION, PRESS CONFERENCE, ATTEND APPEAL HEARING AND DISCUSSION LUNCHEON IN SUPPORT FOR THE WORLD TRADE CENTER 9/11 “MIRACLE CROSS” CASE - American Atheists v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
NYC ATHEISTS MEMBERS: KENNETH BRONSTEIN, JANE EVERHART AND DENNIS HORVITZ ARE PLAINTIFFS IN THIS CASE.
WHEN: Thursday, March 6, 2014:
9:00 A.M. - NYCA Demonstration & Press Conf-
erence
10:00 A.M. - Attend Appeal Hearing of "Miracle"
Cross Court Case
AFTER COURT - Discussion Luncheon -
Location: TBA
WHERE: We meet in front of the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse -
40 Centre Street (Foley Square) - Lower Manhattan,
City Hall area
COST: No cost involved except individual checks for your luncheon. We
will provide the placards.
Come and enjoy the camaraderie of being an Atheist activist among like-minded friends! If you’ve never been in a demonstration, you will find that it is fun as well as meaningful.
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Flash!
‘Miracle Cross’ Case Up for Appeal on March 6th
in Manhattan
NYCA and AA to Show Support with Orderly Demonstration
American Atheists Inc. (AA) will present its appeal in the World Trade Center 9/11 “Miracle Cross” legal case on Thursday, March 6th, at 10 a.m., at the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse, 40 Centre Street (Foley Square) in lower Manhattan.
Please join us in this important public event to help us safeguard the separation of religion and government, and to ensure the equal treatment of Atheists in the 9/11 Museum and elsewhere.
You may attend this open court to hear the arguments for our appeal, and/or take part in our demonstration (which will take place in front of of the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse - Foley Square) to show our support of this issue, which is often misunderstood by many people.
Atheists and other secularists taking part in our demonstration will display our side of this issue by holding placards that say things such as “SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE,” “TAKE THE CROSS BACK TO THE CHURCH” and “RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS DON’T BELONG IN THE 9/11 MUSEUM.”
Come to the Demonstration!
We are asking our members, friends and supporters to come to 40 Centre Street - Foley Square at 9 a.m. (or as close to that as you can make it) to either (1) sit in the open court to hear the arguments (having many people in the courtroom audience illustrates the importance of our appeal) or 2) to carry a placard in the demonstration outside the courthouse.
We will have placards for you at a site near the courthouse and you may choose whichever slogan you wish to carry.
We expect many press reporters to show up and we have chosen designated spokespeople to speak to the press. The designated spokespersons are Ken Bronstein, president of NYC Atheists; Amanda Knief, managing director of AA; Michael Dorian, NY regional director for AA; and Dennis Horvitz, TV host for both NYCA and AA. These people are trained and experienced in speaking to the press. Publicity organizer Jane Everhart will be handing out press kits to the press, which also present our side of the issue.
After the arguments before the three-judge panel are finished, AA’s legal counsel, Attorney Edwin Kagin, will be available for questions from the press outside of the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse.
Our Hearts Go Out to All Victims
Please understand that NYC Atheists and American Atheists fully support the 9/11 Museum and have utter and complete sympathy for the victims of 9/11.
Our issue is with what we see as an opportunistic attempt by the Catholic church to monopolize the memorialization of this tragic event and use it for their own religious purposes with the idolatrization of this Cross made from 9/11 debris.
Our position is: We want to ensure the equal treatment of Atheists, and we want to memorialize equally all the victims who died on 9/11--Jews, Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Wiccans and those of no known faith--but since it is difficult for the Museum to do that, we feel it is only fair and logical that the Miracle Cross be moved back to its previous home, St. Peter’s church, where it had previously stood for five years and where it would be easily accessible to Catholics who wish to worship it.
