Roosevelt ‘Christian’ quote raises ire

A public-interest law firm is trying to prevent a courthouse from removing a religious quote by President Theodore Roosevelt by warding off a threatened lawsuit with legal action of its own.

The Pro-Family Law Center is suing the operators of the Riverside County Historic Courthouse in California and the Anti-Defamation League, which vowed to sue earlier this week if the quote is not removed.

Roosevelt’s statement, “The true Christian is the true citizen,” is engraved in gold on a mahogany wall at one of the courthouse departments.

The Roosevelt quote is one of many, some secular in nature, that reflect the personal and diverse philosophies of the nation’s past leaders, including Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson.

The quotes have been displayed since 1930 without any formal complaint.

The ADL claims, however, that the Roosevelt quote “marginalizes” non-Christians coming into contact with the courthouse.

Richard D. Ackerman, the lead attorney and plaintiff in the Pro-Family Law Center action, says he’s not surprised, because the ADL “hatefully accuses” evangelical Christians of “subterfuge and deception” on its website.

“The engravings in the walls of the courthouse must be taken in their historical context and separated from the ADL’s absurd allegations,” he said. “The quotes from the various presidents represent a diversity of cultural and historic views.”

He points out the ADL has not challenged photographic images of Jews and other religious references placed throughout other courthouse buildings in the same judicial district.

The Pro-Life Family Law Center’s complaint alleges the ADL is acting to censor and single out Christians by its threat of litigation against the Superior Court.

The suit is based on preservation laws that make it a crime to alter a historical site in any way.

The Riverside courthouse was designated a “cultural resource” and a “designated historical site” many years ago.

The Law Center says it views this as a case “designed to protect all Christians across the nation, and to preserve the integrity of a nation whose historical identity is permanently affixed to the contributions of Christians and other persons of faith since its founding.”