ICC Note: The atheist activist group called the Freedom from Religion Foundation recently filed a lawsuit regarding a cross located on Lehigh County, Pennsylvania’s county seal. The atheist group has issued two prior letters of complaint over the matter, but the county has refused to give in to their demands thus far. County officials have stated that the cross has historical significance in the county, rather than simply serving as an endorsement of religion.

By Heather Clark

08/17/2016 United States (Christian News Network) – A prominent professing atheist group has filed a federal lawsuit in an effort to have a cross removed from the seal of a Pennsylvania county.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed the legal challenge on Monday and is seeking a declaration that its inclusion on the county seal is unconstitutional.

“Lehigh County is not a Christian county, it should be equally welcoming to all its citizens regardless of their religion or their reject of religion,” said Co-Founder Annie Laurie Gaylor in a statement.

According to the suit, in November 2014, FFRF sent a letter to County Executive Thomas Muller over the matter but received no response. It then sent another letter in January 2015, and soon afterward, the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners decided not to cave to FFRF’s demands.

Members of the public also contacted the board to express their support for retaining the cross on the seal, and commissioners voted unanimously to have the county solicitor respond to FFRF to outline that the cross would remain.

It believed that the cross was included to honor the first settlers in Lehigh County, who were Christian.

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