'Jesus' Barred From Welcoming Visitors to Texas Town

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Thursday, September 24, 2015

'Jesus Welcomes You to Hawkins' sign in Hawkins, Texas, July 2015. — "Jesus Welcomes You to Hawkins" sign in Hawkins, Texas, July 2015. | (Photo: Screenshot/KLTV)

A town in Texas has decided to remove a sign reading "Jesus Welcomes You" following amid threats of a lawsuit from the nation's largest atheist organization.

Hawkins City Council voted earlier this week to remove the sign after a survey of the land where the sign is located confirmed that it was on public property, according to local media.

"Despite the mayor's disapproval, the city council voted to remove the 'Jesus' sign since recent land surveys showed it was on the city's public property," reported CBS 19.

"City council member Sherry Davis said it was [a] tough decision, but it had to be done to avoid a lawsuit against the city."

In June, the Madison, Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, the largest atheist organization in the nation, sent a complaint to the city Hawkins over the large sign.

Freedom From Religion Foundation Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor stands in front of the door at the foundation headquarters Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007, in Madison, Wisconsin. Gaylor has helped transform the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation from obscurity into the nation's largest group of atheists and agnostics, with a fast-rising membership and increasing legal clout. | (Photo: AP / Morry Gash)

FFRF staff attorney Sam Grover told the Hawkins City Council that the "Jesus Welcomes You to Hawkins" sign was "inappropriate an unconstitutional."

"Because the sign is on public land, it is not protected as private speech, even if it was donated to the city," wrote Grover.

"We ask that the city immediately remove the 'Jesus Welcomes You to Hawkins' sign and refrain from displaying any messages that endorse religion or nonreligion in the future."

Hawkins Mayor Will Rogers stated that he supported the sign and believed that if sued the city could win in the courts.

"What violation is it for someone to welcome you into a town?" asked Rogers at a city meeting in June. "If you don't believe that Jesus existed then He would be fiction."

"If He's fiction, and you want to remove His name from everything, then you have to remove every fiction name from across the country. That means we couldn't say 'Superman welcomes you to town.'"

As many in the Bible Belt town bemoan the decision to remove the sign, the FFRF released a statement Tuesday declaring victory.

"We're so pleased that reason and our secular Constitution have prevailed," stated FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.

"We're happy that the city of Hawkins will respect the rights of citizens of no religion or any religion to live in a city free from government-imposed proselytization."

With the vote taken, Hawkins will seek to remove the sign sometime within the next 30 days and place it in private storage.