More than 3,000 innocent people were murdered by ruthless cowards on Sept. 11, 2001. The day unfolded into a senseless tragedy for Americans.

Since then, workers have labored tirelessly to clear the World Trade Center site and build a museum so current and future generations will never forget what happened there.

One of the artifacts moved into the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum near the site of where the twin towers once stood is a charred steal beam shaped like a Christian cross.

The 17-foot cross became a symbol of solace and hope to workers and many others after it was found jutting out of the smoldering debris.

Some Americans, including some who lost loved ones in the attack, looked to this cross as a symbol of God’s presence in the midst of evil.

Nothing else.

As if what happened on 9/11 wasn’t bad enough, American Atheists, a leading atheist group, added more salt to a still open wound by going to court to have the cross removed from the museum.

These atheists say the cross screams Christianity and demand it be removed as a religious symbol from the state-owned property. They also demand the display be altered to add an atheist monument of similar proportions.

The groups says it is worried about alienation being suffered by atheists. They claim the cross is giving atheists who view it stress, headaches and indigestion.

What a joke.

First, this cross was not erected by some religious group. It just happened to be a crossbeam from the wreckage of the twin towers.

Second, it wasn’t erected on this site. Those running the museum aren’t asking people to pray at the crossbeam. 

Finally, this crossbeam deserves to be in the museum because it is a part of history. Perhaps a higher power meant for that charred beam to survive. No one can say for sure.

Atheists have a continued pattern in this country of wanting all Americans to respect their views without question, but they don’t want the views of Christians and others to be respected.

The lawsuit brought before a New York federal appeals court by this atheist group is absurd.

We predict the American Atheist group will lose this lawsuit, as it has also lost in a lower court. It should lose because this is not state-sponsored religion as the group is claiming.

What was placed in the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum is a piece of history that happens to resemble a cross. 

Most Americans are Christians, and atheists need to respect the religion as they want others to respect their views.

Their actions by pursuing this ongoing lawsuit ignore the feelings of believers who lost loved ones on 9/11 and to those who take solace and comfort from looking at a crossbeam that survived, for some reason, the horrors of that day.