Yeah, you're right, Giz, about the cross. It's basically a symbol for Christianity. It's interesting that it used to mean doom, and death. But today, it is a symbol of hope, love, redemption, and forgiveness. For those of you who may be offended by this, I really don't see how a symbol that means these great things can be wrong.
As for the shadow suggestion, I can read it just fine without the shadow. To me a shadow would kinda look awkward. Did you mean an outline? I'm not really sure how I'd do it.