Texas mayor still defending 'Jesus welcomes you to Hawkins' sign from 'boogie man' atheists
A Texas mayor is continuing his fight with the Freedom From Religion Foundation over a sign created with the city fathers' help reading, "Jesus welcome you to Hawkins" and posted on what might be city property.
According to KLTV, Hawkins mayor Will Rogers has received a second letter from the FFRF saying the city is in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by hosting the sign.
"Well, obviously the attorney's going to have to respond to this, they obviously have inaccurate information just reading this. The city does not own this sign, this sign was put up by the citizens," Rogers said.
In June, Rogers explained away the sign, saying Jesus does not belong solely to Christianity.
“Jesus represents billions of people, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that sign," Rogers explained. “I don’t think it goes against our constitution. Jesus is part of every major religion in the world, so you can’t pin one religion on Jesus.”
The mayor's theological explanation failed to persuade the FFRF which claims the sign is still an endorsement of religion placed on city land.
According to Rogers, the sign was privately paid for by Chamber of Commerce members and constructed by schoolchildren as a project.
"The school children do projects all year long. They came in and asked me if they could do some coasters, I asked if they'd be interested in building a sign for me," Rogers said.
According to co-president of the FFRF Annie Laurie Gaylor, having kids create a Jesus sign is not the proper role of public schools.
"Our schools exist to educate, and it's inappropriate for students to paint a sign, 'Jesus welcomes you to Hawkins,'" Gaylor said.
While officials scramble to see whether the sign is on city property, Rogers complained that the FFRF wants to take Jesus away from Americans.
"They scare you into believing there’s a boogie man, and we're going to get you," he explained. "They want God and Jesus out of our life. I mean that's what the bottom line is."
Watch video below from KLTV:
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