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On May 7, the atheist organization Freedom From Religion Foundation issued an "Action Alert" to their national list of supporters reporting that a single atheist had complained that the county courthouse had four separate crosses on the building.
The atheists demanded the courthouse remove the crosses immediately, or they would sue the county.
Usually, the atheist threat works against municipal, county, state and federal buildings, including public schools,
The county's response is refreshing.
Be refreshed.
Standing firm.
A local atheist complained that the courthouse building in Coldspring, Texas had four crosses on their building. And the atheist claim they leave them up all year long, even lighting them during the holidays (that is secular speak for Christmas).
A county judge and commissioners voted unanimously to keep the four crosses on the county building.The atheist organization, Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), got hold of the complaint about the crosses and put out a national "Action Alert" to their 30,000 atheist members asking the members to contact the county and tell San Jacinto County to remove the crosses or else.
FFRF has grown accustomed to threatening organizations---city, county, state, federal, public schools, etc. with a lawsuit and having them cave and fall into submission and remove the offensive Christian expressions.
Most schools and government agencies cannot afford a lawsuit, FFRF knows that and uses threat, not actual lawsuits, to get God out of public life.
In fact, several faith-based organizations have reported that sending a threatening letter from a law firm, as FFRF does repeatedly, costs about $1000.
Whereas an actual lawsuit, as we all know, costs thousands, normally tens of thousands of dollars.
Most of the time, like 99% of the time, when a government or public school district get these threat letters from the atheists, they cave rather than fight--- giving lack of funds to fight the suit as the reason for removing the offensive Christian symbol from public sight.
In fact, it has been reported that FFRF does not have the funds themselves to actually follow through with all the threats they make each year. They count on the organizations to cave---it's the atheist way---their business model.
About 6 to 700 citizens showed up when the county commissioners voted on the matter at the Coldspring Community Shelter.
More than 40 of the residents signed up to speak at the meeting. Some in attendance described the county meeting as being like a "revival meeting."
Rather than cave and remove the crosses, the decision was made to leave the crosses in place and light them year round instead of only during the Christmas season.
The 29,000 residents of the community are celebrating, many on social media---except for one.
Dwayne Wright, who serves as the county's GOP chair, took the photo showing the lighted cross and placed it on Facebook saying: "THIS is how we roll in San Jacinto County! Not only did we not cower to the Wisconsin Whiners, we lit them up.!"
One of FFRF’s quirky slogans is “Nothing fails like prayer.” The reality is nothing fails like a Freedom From Religion Foundation lawsuit. Yet, their threatening letters cause many localities to cave for fear of being forced to pay for the expense of defending against even a frivolous lawsuit.
Sadly, the Freedom from Religion Foundation is not alone. Other angry atheist groups have made bogus claims in court.
The American Atheists claimed that members experienced “dyspepsia, symptoms of depression, headaches, anxiety, and mental pain and anguish.” Why? Because of the Ground Zero Cross at the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
In yet another case, the American Humanist Association claimed that its members were “shocked” and “upset” that a cross could be used to honor our nation’s veterans for nearly 90 years.
The attacks continue, but as you see, FFRF and its angry atheist allies only win through fear and intimidation – when no one fights back.
They are not winning in federal courts either.
The time for denial is past.
Christian lawyer Kelly Shackelford, published a book in 2017 titled, "UNDENIABLE- The Survey of Hostility to Religion in America." It's about 170 pages. This link gives you the full text.
In it Shackelford writes:
"To deny that religious freedom is in crises in America is to deny the obvious. And yet there are deniers. Ironically, they include those who launch the very attacks that have caused the crises itself. The American people, however deserve the truth."
Summary of the study.
Hostility to religion in America continues to grow at an alarming rate.
In the public arena of public places, the government, and the work-place, religious individuals and groups are facing increasing demands to hide their faith or to sacrifice their beliefs in order to keep their jobs and their livelihoods.
- In the schoolhouse from kindergarten through graduate school, students and teachers face professional, personal and academic threats for living out their faith and refusing to compromise their beliefs.
- In churches and ministries---an area in which one might expect hostilities to be the least---religious leaders are censored, houses of worship are shuttered, and ministries have been told they must violate their religious beliefs or face crippling fines.
- In the military, chaplains face courts-marshall for providing religious counseling according to their biblical religious beliefs, service members are told that they cannot express their faith, and veterans endure the defacement or demolition of their memorials because of Christian imagery.
Shackelford says the title---"Undeniable"--- of his survey "exemplifies its purpose to bring to light the increasing acts of hostility to religion in such a way that even the most uninformed and skeptical person cannot deny that we in America are facing an unprecedented assault on our First Freedom."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.