`Jesus Is Lord' signs proliferate in Louisiana. (Around The States).The debate over whether a Louisiana town can honor Christianity on government-posted signs may be over, but the religious push has shifted from public to private property. In July, officials in Franklinton, La., posted four road signs around the small town that said, "Jesus Is Lord The saying "Jesus is Lord" serves as a statement of faith for millions of Christians who regard Jesus as both fully man and fully God. It is also the motto adopted by the World Council of Churches and by Kenneth Copeland Ministries. Over Franklinton." The signs prompted the Louisiana branch of the American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. to file suit. Fearing a court defeat, the signs were removed from public roadways. In response to the lawsuit, however, local residents have taken to placing signs of their own on their lawns that proclaim: "God Is Lord Over All." An Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. report estimated that over a thousand of the signs have appeared on residential and commercial property in the town of 4,000. "There was sort of an outcry from the Christian community," the Rev. Gene Richards Gene Richards (d. July 31, 1982) was a race car driver with the Automobile Racing Club of America, which primarily ran in the Midwestern United States. Richards was killed at the age of 28 in a crash during the ARCA 200 at the Talladega Superspeedway. , pastor of Hill Crest Baptist Church, told the AP. "It seems the ACLU ACLU: see American Civil Liberties Union. is trying to de-Christianize the community." Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana ACLU, rejects the criticism. "If (the signs) are on private property and people want to make a statement, then that's freedom of expression," Cook said. "Let the words fly." |
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