Religion & American Law

The Americans United for Separation of Church and State recently wrote a letter to Mayor Robert Apgar about the seal of the city of Deland, Florida. In the letter, they noted that Deland’s seal contains “symbols that promote ‘Christian theological virtues’” and that a resident had sent them a complaint. Rabbi Merrill Shapiro sent this complaint and proposed that the religious symbols on the seal had negative psychological ramifications for non-Christians.

Deland’s seal does in fact have a cross on it, as well as a heart and anchor, but the city attorney argued in a letter that these symbols do not promote Christianity. The seal, he holds, traces back to the city’s founding and the symbols were chosen due to their symbolism of “faith, hope and charity.” In the 131 years of Deland’s history, the city has never had a complaint about the seal until now. This conflict has yet to see any legal recourse, but an attorney with Americans United is reviewing options.

The First Amendment of the US Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion…” Court cases over the years have been called to interpret the Establishment clause on numerous occasions and certain key distinctions have aided in creating precedent. The phrase “wall of separation” and the idea that governments should be ‘neutral’ to religions have thus come to be associated with the First Amendment.

So does the Deland seal help establish Christianity and therefore must be removed or changed?

Precedent dictates yes. While the Supreme Court has yet to hear a case related to government seals, several lower courts have faced this issue and come to find that religious symbols like latin crosses or even a Mormon temple on seals violate the Establishment clause. Notable cases include Robinson v. City of Edmond, Harris v. City of Zion, and ACLU v. City of Stow.

Of cases involving seals and religious symbols, one case has in fact held that the seal in question did not violate the Establishment clause. In Murray v. City of Austin, the court used the Lemon Test to justify ruling the Latin cross in the seal constitutional. The secular purpose of the test was largely passed because the city based its seal on the Austin family coat of arms.

If I were to base my personal belief on the constitutionality of Deland’s seal on precedent, then I would have to agree with the lower courts: such a seal violates the Establishment clause as it endorses religion. I could support this further by applying the Lemon test that the 1971 Lemon v. Kurtzman Supreme Court case created. The Deland seal would fail the effects part of the test because it might advance Christianity with the religious symbol of a cross and because non-adherents to Christianity (like Rabbi Shapiro) could perceive the symbols as “a disapproval of their individual religious choices.”

Unfortunately, these arguments are inadequate for me.

I feel that if the national motto of “In God We Trust” has been upheld as constitutional, particularly because of its historical significance, then the symbols in Deland’s seal are constitutional as well. While Deland’s seal does not predate the inclusion of “In God We Trust” on coins, it certainly predates the 1956 establishment of the phrase as our national motto and thus has rival historical meaning. Historically, the US was founded on Judeo-Christian values so it makes sense that many local governments made the decision to include a symbol of faith like the cross as a part of their seal. The cross does not necessarily impose religion on anyone; it simply reflects the historical reality of Deland 131 years ago behind other symbols of hope and charity. If the attorney was correct that those behind the seal added the cross as a symbol of ‘faith,’ then the cross does not necessarily have to allude to Christianity but perhaps instead to the faith of the people in the city’s potential.

The United States has obviously been able to accommodate religious references and symbols in the past provided that they have historical significance, so I do not see why Deland should ever have to change their seal.