There's a growing outcry that one element of the newly chosen Flight 93 National Memorial represents Islam and is a slap in the face to the passengers and crew members who died on the hijacked plane four years ago.

Ron McRae, Somerset County street evangelist -- "It's a memorial to the terrorists. It's not a memorial to the innocent Americans who died there."

The winning design, announced Wednesday in Washington, D.C., includes what is called the "Crescent of Embrace." That element of the project calls for two rows of red maple trees to be planted around a bowl-shaped piece of land adjacent to the crash site. The trees, according to the architects, are there to create a physical edge to the landscape and accentuate the topography.

Almost immediately upon seeing the design, online bloggers suggested that it is inappropriate to use a red crescent in the memorial.

To many, that shape represents Islam, and the symbol is used on the flags of several Muslim countries, including Turkey, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

The four men who hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 on its way from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco were Muslim.

But the architects who created the winning design say their design has nothing to do with Islam.

"A crescent is part of architectural vocabulary. It's a generic form used in design," said Paul Murdoch, one of the winning architects. "We don't see any one group having ownership of it."

	Paul Murdoch Architects "Crescent of Embrace" features an arc of maple trees that will turn red each fall. Click photo for larger image.

Murdoch believes it's unfortunate that the design is being interpreted that way.

"You can call it all kinds of things. We can call it an arc. We can call it a circle. We can call it the edge of the bowl. The label doesn't matter to us in terms of intent.

"We have no objection to calling it something else."

Murdoch did say they have no intentions of changing the design.

The reason the circle of trees is not completed, he said, is because it was severed by the path of Flight 93. From that opening, visitors will be able to gaze down on what has been called the "Sacred Ground," where some of the remains of the passengers and crew still rest.

The crescent associated with Islam is the lunar crescent, which is wider in the middle and tapers to points on each end. The crescent in the Murdochs' design maintains a steady thickness all the way around.

But that distinction isn't enough for some.

Mark McMorrow, who runs the Constitutional Conservative blog online, wrote this yesterday: "Didn't anybody pick up on the crescent/Islam relationship? Didn't this occur to any of the victim's family members? Even if it's an accident, I don't think this design is acceptable."

Later, in a phone interview, McMorrow said he was surprised to learn family members of those who died in the attack weren't offended by the use of the crescent.

"It's like figuring swastikas into a Holocaust memorial," he said.

But the families of the passengers and crew of Flight 93 don't have a problem with the design.

"I think people are reading too much into it," said Kenneth Nacke, whose brother, Louis, died in the crash. "It doesn't affect my decision on it in any way. I'm still happy with it."

Gordon Felt, whose brother, Edward, died in the crash, called the focus on the crescent an "unfortunate distraction," from the fourth anniversary memorial service tomorrow at the crash site.

Still, he continued, "It would be silly of us to have some sort of symbolism [in the memorial] that would be offensive to people."

Eight family members served on the second-stage jury that selected the final memorial design.

The jurors recognized there could be some backlash because of the crescent. That's why, in their recommendations, they wrote: "Consider the interpretation and impact of words within the context of this event. The crescent should be referred to as 'the circle or arc,' or other words that are not tied to specific religious iconography."

But Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman with the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C., said there is no one official symbol associated with Islam.

She acknowledges that the crescent has come to represent the religion. But, she continued, it does not hold the same significance, for example, as the cross does to Christianity.

Ahmed says she can understand why the crescent would be associated with Islam, which has 7 million followers in the United States and more than a billion worldwide.

"People forget Muslims died [in the attacks], too," Ahmed said. "Islam, as a religion itself, was hijacked on 9/11."

Self-proclaimed bishop Ron McRae, a street evangelist based in Somerset County, has vowed to fight the use of the crescent symbol in the Flight 93 memorial.

He believes the architects used it purposely.

"It's a memorial to the terrorists," McRae said. "It's not a memorial to the innocent Americans who died there."

But Tom Sokolowski, the director of the Andy Warhol Museum, and one of the Stage II jury members, said that claim is "asinine."

"If the families of the 40 people who were killed felt this was an appropriate symbol to honor their loved ones, then I think he is delusional," he said. "To take this small-minded, bigoted view is disgusting and repellent."