{"id":29957,"date":"2018-05-25T17:33:03","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T17:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=29957"},"modified":"2018-05-25T17:33:03","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T17:33:03","slug":"do-these-symbols-speak-for-a-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=29957","title":{"rendered":"Do these symbols speak for a community?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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CLARENDON, Texas — <\/strong>We have been traveling through this community for more than two decades en route from Amarillo to the Metroplex … and occasionally beyond.<\/p>\n

During a relatively recent span of time, though, I have been struck by the plethora of religious symbols that have sprouted up on both ends of the highway that courses through the Donley County community.<\/p>\n

Some of them are crosses, symbols of Jesus’s crucifixion. There are signs, too. They speak about God. There’s a touch of preaching in them; some of the signs speak of the “only path to salvation.” That kind of thing.<\/p>\n

I’ve long wondered: Who put these messages out there? Did the city sanction them? I’ve sniffed around only a little bit.<\/p>\n

Then I found a link to an Amarillo TV station that rooted out an answer or two.<\/p>\n

As KFDA NewsChannel 10 reported: A local resident, Jim Griffin, put the signs up. They are meant to predict consequences far worse than 9\/11. They seek to espouse Christian belief.<\/p>\n

Not everyone is happy about the signs, or the crosses, or the message some have construed — which is that Clarendon is welcome only to Christians.<\/p>\n

Hmm. I don’t buy that. I’ve never felt “evangelized” when I read the signs or look at the crosses.<\/p>\n

The signs generally speak of hope and faith. Is there something really wrong with that? I think not.<\/p>\n

Yes, it is a curious community feature. I have noticed that all the signs and the crosses are sitting on private property. I haven’t noticed anything on the Clarendon College campus, or at the Donley County Courthouse, or at Clarendon City Hall. There clearly would be a constitutional concern were there to be such messages delivered on public<\/em> property. That First Amendment prohibition, after all, does prevent government from sanctioning any specific religion.<\/p>\n

Not everyone is happy about it. Read the editorial in the Clarendon Enterprise here.<\/a><\/p>\n

As for non-Christians’ feelings as they motor through Clarendon, I am sensitive to that, too. However, I am unaware of anyone forcing<\/em> individuals to abide by whatever message the signs convey.<\/p>\n

I rarely stop in Clarendon for anything other than gas or perhaps a convenience snack or cold drink. I might feel differently about the crosses and the signs if a convenience store clerk were to start preaching to me.<\/p>\n

My response would be: Talk to me on Sunday — in church!<\/p>\n\n

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CLARENDON, Texas — We have been traveling through this community for more than two decades en route from Amarillo to the Metroplex … and occasionally beyond. During a relatively recent span of time, though, I have been struck by the plethora of religious symbols that have sprouted up on both ends of the highway that … Continue reading Do these symbols speak for a community?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[977,7788,1653,5671,4668],"class_list":["post-29957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","category-religious-news","tag-christianity","tag-clarendon","tag-evangelicals","tag-kfda-newschannel-10","tag-texas-panhandle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29959,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29957\/revisions\/29959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}