New Orleans — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday demanding the removal of signs outside a southeastern Louisiana town that proclaim: "Jesus is Lord over Franklinton."
ACLU officials said public money was used to put up the signs on state roads, violating the constitutional separation of church and state.
"Can you imagine the hostility that Jews, Muslims, members of other minority faiths and non-believers must feel when living in or passing through that community?" asked Linton Carney, who saw the signs in July while driving through Franklinton, 55 miles north of New Orleans. He said he has no religious affiliation.
The suit names the town, its mayor and surrounding Washington Parish as defendants.
Franklinton Mayor Earle Brown said the town had nothing to do with the signs and has told the ACLU so. "We have no knowledge of who put them up," said Brown, adding that they appeared a couple of years ago.
Last week, ACLU officials threatened to sue the mayor of Inglis, Fla., unless she removes her proclamation banning Satan within the town limits from posts at the town's entrances.
The proclamation by the mayor, a devout Christian, was typed on town stationary and affixed with the town seal.
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