A Tennessee police department is in constitutional compliance thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
A concerned community member had informed the state/church watchdog that the Kingston Police Department had been placing a bible reference in official press releases. For instance, on August 15, 2024, a press release noted “Proverbs 20:7” under Chief Jim Washam’s name. The New International Version reference reads: “The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.”
The Supreme Court has long recognized that the First Amendment “mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion,” FFRF pointed out.
“Placing a biblical reference on government press releases fails to respect either constitutional mandate of neutrality,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Hirsh M. Joshi wrote to Washam. “This is explicitly a Christian verse, and only a Christian verse. Using Christian scripture endorses religion over nonreligion and Christianity over all others.”
FFRF also emphasized that using the verse was unnecessarily divisive. Citizens interact with and rely on law enforcement officers during some of the most urgent and vulnerable times of their lives. These citizens should not be alienated, like political outsiders, because their local tax-supported government oversteps with religious messages.
The Kingston Police Department’s use of religious scripture in official communications was beyond the scope of secular government, and the “Proverbs 20:7” citation must be removed from its official communications immediately, FFRF insisted.
Its complaint struck a responsive chord.
“Please allow this email to serve as official notification that the reference to Proverbs 20:7, as addressed in the attached letter, has been removed from department letterhead,” Kingston City Manager David L. Bolling replied.
FFRF is delighted to keep police departments on the right side of the Constitution.
“We’re glad that city officials realized the problematic nature of their official messaging — and set about correcting it,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national educational nonprofit with more than 40,000 members and several chapters across the country, including over 400 members and a chapter in Tennessee, FFRF East Tennessee. FFRF protects the constitutional separation between state and church and educates about nontheism.\
Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash
