December 22, 2014
The Utica Fire Department is in the middle of a small controversy over a sign outside one of their fire houses.
The sign says, “Happy birthday Jesus, we love you.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national organization that promotes separation of church and state and educates the public about atheism and agnosticism.
The group has written multiple letters protesting the sign.
Fire Chief Russell Brooks said the department will not take the sign down, according to NewsChannel 9 WSYR’s sister station WUTR-TV.
“This display is well within our constitutional rights and we’ve seen no reason to take it down when it brings such a good feeling to the community and to the firefighters,” said Brooks.
He also said, the department is also receiving a lot of support from the community about the sign.
Jehovah's Witnesses have a deep aversion to the celebration of Jesus' birth and have suppressed Christmas altogether in their ranks, and use anti-traditional ratiocination to fix His birth in the fall.
Even atheists could not object to the sign because it makes no claim that Jesus is Lord and God.
Only other group that actively opposes the appearance of Jesus' name in public are the Jews. But I could hardly imagine Utica's Jews would act so rashly.