I called the Pennsylvania chapter of the ACLU on Saturday and left a message. To their credit a representative called back this afternoon. The purpose of my contact with them was to discuss the proposed Flight 93 memorial and the Islamic symbolism that it features.
ACLU: “Thank you for contacting the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union, this is Pam, what is the nature of your complaint”
Ken: “I was calling about the proposed Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania, and the Islamic symbolism they are using for it”.
Pam: “I haven’t heard about this, what kind of Islamic symbolism are they using?”
Ken: “for one thing the main part of the memorial is a huge Red Crescent, and they are calling it the Crescent of Embrace”.
Pam: “So how is that an Islamic symbol?”
Ken: “A red crescent to a Muslim is like a cross to a Christian”
Pam: “Is it just some kind of artistic expression in the shape of a crescent, or are they intending to promote Islam”
Ken: “Well the designers are denying it has anything to do with Islam but the symbolism is still there and I think it is completely inappropriate to have anything symbolizing Islam in a memorial to the Hero’s of flight 93.
Pam: “Well if the designers do not have the intent on promoting a religion then I don’t see the problem.”
Ken: “If the Memorial was shaped like a cross would you have a problem with that?”
Pam: “If it was intended as a cross and to promote a particular religion then we would be very troubled with that, but if it only resembled a cross and that was not the intent of it then we would not have a problem with that either.” (Yea right!)
Ken: “So what you are saying is that even though many people may view the crescent as a bow to Islam you wouldn’t have a problem with it unless the designers specifically intended it to be a religious symbol?”
Pam: “Yes, in fact if the crescent is meant to promote understanding and multiculturalism then I would think it is quite appropriate.
The fact that they call it the “Crescent of Embrace” means that the memorial is intending to embrace other cultures”.
Ken: “Yes but it could also mean to embrace Islam.”
Pam: “I don’t see it that way. We will certainly look into it but it doesn’t sound like something the ACLU would get involved in.
Ken: Yes please look into it. There is plenty of resources on the Internet, and you can go directly to the Flight 94 Memorial website and check it out for yourself.
Pam: I will do that; if there is anything that we feel is actionable I will contact you ok.
Ken: “Please do”.
Pam: “Thank you for calling the American Civil Liberties Union."
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