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Chances are you\u2019ve never even heard of Whiteville, Tennessee.<\/strong>\u00a0 As of the 2000 Census the town, in the west side of the state in rural Hardeman County, \u00a0had a population of only 3,148, living in an area of 2.4 square miles.\u00a0 The median income for a family was only $28,603.\u00a0<\/p>\n But what Whitehall does have is faith.\u00a0<\/strong> That\u2019s why, several years ago, the residents of the town raised funds to erect a large cross atop the town\u2019s water tower.\u00a0<\/p>\n But along came the Freedom From Religion Foundation<\/strong>\u2014which filed a lawsuit.\u00a0 At first, the group\u2019s founder Dan Barker filed the case on behalf of \u201ca Whiteville resident and taxpayer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The town sought counsel<\/strong> from the Alliance Defense Fund; but faced with the prospect of an expensive legal process, Mayor Bellar had one arm of the cross removed.\u00a0 Technically, without one of its arms, the cross is no longer a religious symbol.<\/strong>\u00a0 What it is, though, is a symbol of the city\u2019s proud defiance against atheist activists who drive up and down the freeway, looking for religious symbols that may be on public land.<\/p>\n Mayor Bellar wrote a letter to Nashville lawyer Alvin Harris, who represented the Freedom From Religion Foundation.\u00a0 \u201cThis brings to a close a sad chapter in the history of Whiteville,\u201d wrote Mayor Bellar, \u201cthat can best be described as terroristic, cowardly and shameful!\u00a0 The fear and terror caused our older people here is shameful.\u00a0 So shame on your client and your firm!\u201d<\/p>\n But the story doesn\u2019t end there.\u00a0<\/strong> As the cross\u2019s arm came down, the people of Whiteville began to express their faith and their solidarity.\u00a0 People began to make crosses and stick them in their yards, on the sides of buildings, wherever they could.\u00a0<\/strong> Citizens placed two crosses on the right of way in front of City Hall.\u00a0 The Mayor himself put up a cross in front of his business.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Freedom From Religion Foundation is still sputtering,<\/strong> and has filed suit again.\u00a0 The new lawsuit stops short of claiming that one of the city\u2019s own had complained; instead, the legal verbiage was changed to \u201cJohn Doe who occasionally comes to Whiteville to transact business.\u201d\u00a0 In short, says Mayor James Bellar, there is one atheist out there somewhere, who is seeking to deprive the town\u2019s Christian majority of their free speech rights.\u00a0<\/p>\n This time, Mayor Bellar asserts, the town stands ready to defend itself.\u00a0 Bring it on!<\/strong><\/p>\n Chances are you\u2019ve never even heard of Whiteville, Tennessee.\u00a0 As of the 2000 Census the town, in the west side of the state in rural Hardeman County, \u00a0had a population of only 3,148, living in an area of 2.4 square miles.\u00a0 The median income for a family was only $28,603.\u00a0 But what Whitehall does have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":556,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,95,114],"tags":[2733,399,449,610,714,749],"class_list":["post-5229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism","category-faith","category-government","tag-atheism","tag-crosses","tag-freedom-from-religion-foundation","tag-political-activism","tag-tennessee","tag-whiteville"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kathyschiffer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Whiteville-Tennessee-300x164.jpg\")
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