A nonprofit group claims Clayton's town seal and motto are exclusionary to non-Christians, along with atheists and agnostics.
CLAYTON -- The story of the borough's dispute with the Freedom From Religion Foundation prompted more than 400 responses in just three hours on Monday afternoon. The Gloucester County borough's town seal includes an image of a church with a cross on it, while the town motto describes Clayton as a "great place to live and play, work and pray."
Borough seal of Clayton, New Jersey
Since September, Clayton and the Wisconsin-based nonprofit FFRF have been in a dispute over whether officials should secularize the motto and seal. Council voted in late March to keep the two emblems in their current forms, while attorneys with FFRF have cited several court cases cases around the country as evidence that Clayton's seal and motto are illegal.
Readers on NJ.com weighed in with reactions that ranged from eye-rolling to nods of agreement with both the FFRF and Clayton. Many commenters expressed mixed feelings. Below are a few comments that stood out.
I'm not offended by this. But It probably shouldn't have a church/cross nor say pray on it. It gives tacit endorsement for a favored religion.
I'm not much of a religious person, but how does this negatively impact anybody? Why would a picture of a church bother me if I don't go to one? People are only happy when they have something to complain about.
Clayton's town seal violates the Establishment Clause. One of Clayton's lawyers, Gary Marek, AGREES that: 1) "federal courts have consistently held that religious symbolism on official city seals is unconstitutional, even in the face of claims that the religious portions are in some way historical; and 2) "towns have lost court battles over religious symbols in official seals." This SAME issue has already been fought and lost by foolish towns. However, Mr. Marek tries to claim that somehow that our same federal Constitution that was upheld by federal court in Illinois might somehow be different here in New Jersey. Nonsense. He KNOWS that the federal court in New Jersey would rule the exact same way. By his BS, Mr. Marek indicates his plan for him and borough solicitor, Tim Scaffidi, to bilk Clayton's town folk of their hard-earned tax money.
Clayton's town seal is illegal. It has ALWAYS been illegal. Clayton should just re-design its seal so that it is not exclusionary, instead of wasting money on a lawsuit that it WILL lose.
While not religious myself, it is pretty clear that nobody is more narrow-minded than the atheist fanatics. Their comfort in completely ignoring American and Western history is breathtaking. In general my sense is that America is no longer a frontier country, no longer a country that has too much space and not enough people. If immigrants don't like what we are, they should stay home where they are happier since we do not need them at all.
How about we keep religion and government separate? Is that asking too much?
Remove the cross from the "house of worship" and add (or not) to the end of the slogan.
Problem solved.
There really are much more important things to worry about right now.
Andy Polhamus may be reached at apolhamus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ajpolhamus. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
Borough seal of Clayton, New Jersey