A group supporting separation of church and state recently sued Rancho Cucamonga after a billboard on Route 66 that read “Imagine No Religion” was removed and destroyed. The Freedom From Religion Foundation argued in the lawsuit that a city official contacted the billboard company after receiving many complaints about the sign. Reports vary, but one account said a city official denied asking the billboard company to take down the sign, but confirmed that the city relayed the number of complaints. Do you think it would be appropriate for city officials to be involved in this case, no matter how many complaints it receives?
As our country accommodates religion, so it must accommodate non-religion and even (or especially!) anti-religious sentiments.
We live in a secular, democratic state founded on a deep aversion to theocracy. We support our institutions without believing that they are God-directed.
Let Jefferson’s insight guide our response: “One of the amendments to the Constitution expressly declares that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,’ thereby guarding in the same sentence and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press; insomuch that whatever violates either throws down the sanctuary which covers the others.”
