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The Lehigh County seal (Contributed Photo / THE MORNING CALL) A group of 20 religious and civil rights organizations have filed a brief supporting a federal court’s ruling against Lehigh County, arguing the county seal is unconstitutional because features a cross .
In an Amici brief filed last week with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the group argued that a federal court was right to rule the seal as a violation of the Establishment Clause, which prevents the government from establishing an official religion or prohibit anyone from practicing their faith. This separation of church and state must be upheld, as should the ruling, it argued.
“When government employs the primary symbol of one religion for its official insignia, it communicates an impermissible message of favoritism and exclusion that stigmatizes non-adherents while also demeaning the faith that it endorses,” the brief reads.
The group represented in the brief includes the ACLU, American Atheists, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the Anti-Defamation League, the Hindu American Organization, the National Council of Churches, the Sikh Coalition and Woman of Reform Judaism, among others.
In 2016, The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based non-profit, and four Lehigh County residents sued the county, arguing the cross was a violation of their First Amendment rights. Federal District Judge Edward Smith ruled in September that the seal was unconstitutional because it served as an official endorsement of religion by the government. Although Smith found that the cross was a passive symbol that did not coerce anyone into adopting Christianity or establish a county religion, he determined that existing case law required him to rule against the county.
Lehigh County Commissioners voted 6-3 along party lines to appeal the ruling . Marty Nothstein, chair of the board of commissioners, has declined to comment on the case due to the pending litigation, but commissioner have previously said the cross is included as a nod to the Christian settlers who established the community. Documents show that when the seal was adopted in 1944, the cross was intended to represent “Christianity and the God-fearing people which are the foundation and […]