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Hello Americans, I’m Todd Starnes. Stand by for news and commentary next.
The Swainsboro Police Department in Georgia drew the wrath of atheists in Wisconsin.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding the police remove a cross that had been erected in front of the department’s headquarters.
The cross was posted at the base of a flag pole.
“The cross unabashedly creates the perception of official government support for Christianity,” FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line writes to Swainsboro Police Chief Randy Ellison. “It conveys the message to the 30 percent of Americans who are not religious that they are not ‘favored members of the political community,’” to quote the U.S. Supreme Court.
The out-of-town atheists say they were reaching out on behalf of a concerned citizen.
They say the cross is unconstitutional — that police departments are not allowed to post any religious display on public property.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation also said that non-believers might feel unwelcome by the presence of the cross. In other words — their feelings might get hurt.
They says the cross must come down or else.
“Such a brazen endorsement of a religion is shocking,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “What makes this particularly distasteful is that the Latin cross is attached to a flagpole flying the American flag, which sends an inappropriate message that to be a true American, one must be Christian. But in the US, which values religious liberty, there can and should be no religious test for citizenship.”
If I were the police chief — I’d relegate their complaint to the circular file.
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