The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s Metropolitan Chicago Chapter has set up a display at the Daley Center Plaza in Chicago to counter Easter activities there.

Each year, the chapter erects a banner display to protest a Catholic prayer shrine and worship service taking place annually on the city plaza during the Christian “holy week.” The Catholic organization responsible for the service has insisted on using taxpayer property as a platform to proselytize its religion and convert others to its belief system. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has long disagreed with and fought to prevent such public forums, which serve mainly to provide a voice to religion. Proving that point is the fact that the FFRF banner was stolen two years in broad daylight, showing that such so-called public forums are viewed as belonging to the dominant religion.

The banner proclaims quotes supportive of the separation of state and church by Presidents Kennedy and Reagan and reads:
Keep religion in a place of worship — Not on secular government property
“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.”
John F. Kennedy, Sept. 12, 1960
“We establish no religion in this country. … Church and state are and must remain separate.”
Ronald Reagan, Oct. 26, 1984

Thanks to the awesome team of volunteers who braved the cold, windy temperatures, the FFRF banner was set up on Wednesday, April 1, in the afternoon at Chicago’s Daley Center Plaza, and will be on display for one week.

FFRF thanks chapter members for their work in setting up the display, pictured from left to right: Brian Emerick, Bob Hunter, Jeff Kramer and Manuel Beltran. Not pictured are Steve Foulkes, who also assisted with the setup, and Bob Elmore, who kindly took the photos.

“Taxpayers of all faiths, and no faith, should be free from government influence regarding their religious beliefs, or lack thereof. Just as important, religions of any tradition should have no influence regarding the legislation of our laws and public policy,” FFRF Metropolitan Chicago Chapter Associate Executive Director Tom Cara says. “Our deepest appreciation goes out to each of [the volunteers] for their staunch activism toward maintaining the wall of separation between state and religion. Our thanks as well to the national Freedom From Religion Foundation for funding the required (and costly!) permit fee for Daley Center Plaza displays.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 41,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including more than 1,400 members and a chapter in Illinois. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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