Cross Atop County Nursing Home Protested

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has asked for the removal of a large, lighted cross atop a publicly-owned nursing home in Sheboygan, Wis.

On behalf of a Sheboygan Foundation member and taxpayer, Foundation president Anne Gaylor wrote both the Sunny Ridge Nursing Home and the county's chief administrative officer in December.

Coverage of the complaint brought a barrage of outraged letters to the editor by area Christians published in the Sheboygan Press, as well as some nasty mail and emails. One excellent letter from a Foundation member was published.

The Foundation has been advised that the cross can be seen from the distance of a mile, and that the nursing home is a county-owned property subsidized with county and state tax dollars.

"This promotion of religion with the display of one religion's icon, the Christian cross, is a violation of the separation of church and state," wrote Gaylor.

The Foundation is still awaiting a formal response.