In the July 28, 2017, edition of TBA Today you printed a story, likely based on Knoxville News-Sentinel reports, suggesting that the City of Knoxville would remove a plaque containing a Bible verse from the City’s Safety Building and police headquarters. The story says that I said we could have defended the plaque but agreed with the Mayor’s decision to remove it in order to avoid spending taxpayer money to fund the defense.  I do not believe this story to be an accurate portrayal of the facts nor an accurate portrayal of the City’s position on this case.

In fact, that story makes a couple of incorrect assumptions. The first assumption is that the City acted because it feared that it would be sued by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The action that the City took was not based on the fear of litigation.  It was based upon an analysis of the facts presented combined with a thorough review of constitutional law as determined by the courts, from which we concluded that the manner in which the plaque was displayed at the Safety Building was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. The fact that a single verse from the Christian Bible with a reference to that source was prominently displayed in a public building to the exclusion of inspirational statements from any other source or faith in our view constituted an impermissible endorsement of Christianity by the municipal government. Public officials take oaths to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, even when it would be more politically convenient not to do so. It is incumbent upon officials to review cases from the Supreme Court and lower courts to discern as clearly as possible what the Constitution requires in the administration of government. The City’s review of the facts existing here revealed that the plaque as displayed was in violation of the Establishment Clause and that our duty was to correct that violation. It was the fact that our practice violated the Constitution, not that we were afraid of being sued, that prompted the City’s action in this case.

The second incorrect assumption is that the City was taking down the plaque. That is not accurate. The City merely moved the plaque to a location at the Safety Building (it was moved from the top of one side of a door to the top of the other side of that very same door) where it will be prominently displayed and where officers can continue to read it and derive inspiration from it. To display the plaque, the City has created at police headquarters a Hall of Inspiration in which this plaque will be displayed along with other inspiring messages from a variety of sources, both secular and non-secular. The Law Department’s advice to the City was that it is not a violation of the Constitution to quote from the Bible and to provide messages of hope and encouragement which derive from the Bible; it is a violation to do so in a way and manner that promotes or endorses a single faith or religion to the exclusion of other faiths or religions. The new Hall of Inspiration will provide an opportunity for all employees of every faith to be inspired by messages which represent their particular faith traditions and also for those who choose not to adhere to any particular faith to receive inspiration from sources which are meaningful to them. This is entirely consistent with the precepts of the Constitution.

The City of Knoxville understands and appreciates that many Christians are passionate about their faith and are prepared to defend that faith against any threat. The City also appreciates that the framers of our Constitution realized that it was very important to create a form of government in which all people of every faith or of no faith are free to fully and freely exercise their beliefs without interference from their government and the framers also were wise enough to recognize that it is no business of government to establish, endorse or promote any particular faith or system of beliefs. The City maintains that those beliefs which are voluntarily and sincerely held without government coercion are the most enduring forms of faith. The citizens of our City are grateful to live in a free country that recognizes and permits that form of freedom.

Thank you for permitting me to comment on this story and to clarify the facts which are pertinent to an accurate understanding of what actually happened as well as why it happened.

Charles W. Swanson
Law Director
City of Knoxville