The Freedom From Religion Foundation has ensured that a Christian cross has been removed from a sheriff’s vehicle in Greenfield, Ind.
A concerned community member informed the national state/church watchdog that a Hancock County Sheriff’s Office vehicle displayed a prominent Latin cross decal on the rear windshield.
FFRF took quick action to protect the First Amendment and the rights of conscience of Hancock County citizens.
“The cross unabashedly signals official government support for Christianity,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Hirsh M. Joshi wrote to Sheriff Brad Burkhart. “We hope you agree that law enforcement must be even-handed and avoid any appearance of bias toward some citizens, and hostility toward others.”
FFRF pointed out that citizens should not be made to feel alienated, or like political outsiders, because their local government they support with their taxes oversteps its power by placing a religious statement on government property. Nor should the sheriff’s office privilege religious citizens. Such a show of religious preference undermines the credibility of the sheriff’s office and causes religious minorities—including the nonreligious—to question the impartiality of their law enforcement officials.
FFRF is pleased by the prompt compliance of Sheriff Burkhart, who emailed FFRF back, noting that the cross had been removed, as well as providing photographic evidence of the updated sheriff’s vehicle.
“Citizens need to be able to trust their law enforcement officers in times of need, and there’s nothing that can shatter that trust faster than the intrusion of religion into governmental affairs,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Law enforcers, who carry guns and have the ability to arrest citizens, have a professional obligation to separate their personal religious views from their governmental duties and we’re glad to see that happen here.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national educational nonprofit with more than 40,000 members and several chapters across the country, including hundreds of members in Indiana. FFRF protects the constitutional separation between state and church and educates about nontheism.
