Christian Post--A small town in Alabama has decided to put up welcome signs that have Bible verses despite questions about the constitutionality of the signs brought up by a national atheist organization.
Town council members in Sylvania, Ala., voted unanimously on Tuesday to replace the four signs that former mayor Mitchell Dendy had removed two weeks ago before he resigned.In April, Dendy received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based atheist organization, which said the local government was using the signs to endorse Christianity and as such they were unconstitutional. The signs said "Sylvania Welcomes You" and "Ephesians 4:5 – One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism."
After receiving the letter, Dendy had the signs removed without the support of the town's council. WAAY in Dallas reports that, prior to his resignation, Dendy was also fired from his job as Dekalb County Jail administrator due to sexual harassment and misconduct allegations.
Max Turner, the current acting mayor of Sylvania, told The Christian Post on Wednesday that the town's council voted unanimously to overturn Dendy's decision so that the signs, or at least ones like them, can be restored to their proper places.
Before the council even had an opportunity to vote on the issue, however, the town's residents took it upon themselves to show how important the signs were to them. Turner says he received about 100 phone calls from upset residents, and other council members received a number of calls as well.
Many residents even put up signs of their own in their yards, Turner says, as a way of showing that they value having the Bible verse on the town's signs.
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