City Seal In NM Under Attack by ACLU

The city of Tijeras, N.M., is like so many other towns in having its own city seal. Their particular seal shows a conquistador's helmet and sword, a scroll, a desert plant, a fairly large Native American zia (religious symbol), and a small Christian cross. The seal is shown here from the website hyscience.com



The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) finds this offensive and is suing the city to change the seal by removing the Christian symbol. It is worthy of note that the ACLU is not complaining about the Native American zia.

The basis for most such attacks by the ACLU is that a symbol violates the so-called "separation of church and state." The actual words of the First Amendment prohibit Congress from establishing a national religion and compelling others to follow it. Forgetting for a minute about the difference between the U.S. Congress and a small city in New Mexico, it is hard to image that little cross, as part of a historic reference to the city's roots, establishing a mandatory religion.

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