ptown_trojans_1;517350 wrote:Give me a break.
This is absurd. It is not an Islamic crescent, its designer did not intend for it to be a mosque (of which to be a mosque it would have to have a congregation-which this would not), and is supported by the family members of the plane crash.
Plus, it just plays into the stupid over exaggerated fantasies of some of the crazy right, including nutjob Frank Gaffney.
Please, give me a break.
This ranks up there with the crazy theory that the layout of Washington DC is in the form of a Mason square and compass, therefore Masons control the country.
Fair enough. But why was the winning design called "Crescent of Embrace" and later changed to "Circle of Embrace"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_93_National_Memorial
Controversy
This design "drew criticism from some religious groups and online blogs."[12] A photojournalist wrote at zombietime that:[13]
The winning design chosen to memorialize the heroes and victims of 9/11’s Flight 93 is in the shape of a red crescent that looks–either accidentally or intentionally–remarkably like an Islamic crescent.
...[A]n azimuthal equidistant world map ... seems to indicate that the crescent is oriented toward Mecca.
Jury member Tom Burnett Sr., whose son was killed in the crash, said he made an impassioned speech to his fellow jurors about what he felt the crescent represented, "I explained this goes back centuries as an old-time Islamic symbol," Burnett said. "I told them we'd be a laughing stock if we did this."[14] Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado has opposed the design's shape "because of the crescent's prominent use as a symbol in Islam." Mike Rosen of the Rocky Mountain News wrote: "On the anniversaries of 9/11, it's not hard to visualize al-Qaeda celebrating the crescent of maple trees, turning red in the fall, "embracing" the Flight 93 crash site. To them, it would be a memorial to their fallen martyrs. Why invite that? Just come up with a different design that eliminates the double meaning and the dispute."[15]
http://tribune-democrat.com/local/x519117030/Concerns-over-memorial-grow
Somerset — Fundamentalist Christians aren’t alone in their concerns about an Islamic symbol being used in the design of the Flight 93 National Memorial.
Muslims would take affront as well, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at New York University said.
Named “Crescent of Embrace,” the design by Paul Murdoch Associates of Los Angeles centers around a semicircular pathway of red maples leading to the crash site. Forty innocent passengers and crew were killed when four Islamic hijackers crashed the plane into a reclaimed strip mine near Shanksville on Sept. 11, 2001.
“Given the political ramifications, it’s not an apt name,” Professor Bernard Haykel said Friday, a day after a Somerset County street preacher declared he is considering filing for an injunction to stop the design.
“I could see a Muslin taking offense to this by saying this could be a slight to Islam. It could cut both ways.”
The Rev. Ron McRae, self-proclaimed bishop of Bible Anabaptist Church near Jerome, is vowing to fight the design, contending a red crescent is a major Islamic symbol.
“I think it’s shameful,” McRae said. “These people were killed in the name of religion.”
In Islam, the crescent moon symbolizes the beginning and end of a calendar month. Crescents are prominent on mosques and are used on ambulances similar to red crosses in America.
“It is the symbol of ritual and religious life for Muslims,” Haykel said.
“The name (of the memorial) itself is not bad, but people can read into it all kinds of things.”
Murdoch has said the word is used generically in an architectural sense to describe the walkway around the bowl-shaped depression surrounding the plane’s point of impact. He maintains no religious implications were intended.
But even the second-stage jury that selected the design recommended changing its name to steer clear of religious overtones. Rather than crescent, the jury suggested using circle or arc of embrace instead.
“It shows how insulated Americans are about 9/11,” Haykel said. “They should think how Christian fundamentalists and Muslims are going to see this. This is not a neutral context.”
Fouad El Bayly of Somerset, leader of the Islamic Center of Johnstown, has said Muslims immediately would recognize the symbolism in the design.
The crescent is a symbol of Islamic faith, El Bayly said.
“You pick something to be identified with,” he said
