Harris v. City of Zion, Lake County, Ill.

Page 1401

927 F.2d 1401

59 USLW 2598

Clint W. HARRIS and The Society of Separationists, Inc., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. CITY OF ZION, LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS, Mayor of Zion and Zion

City Council, Defendants-Appellants.

Theodore M. KUHN and The Society of Separationists, Inc., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CITY OF ROLLING MEADOWS, Mayor of Rolling Meadows and Rolling Meadows City Council, Defendants-Appellees.

Nos. 90-1542, 90-1673.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Sept. 17, 1990.

Decided March 19, 1991.

Richard M. Gutman, Carlisle, Pa., for plaintiffs-appellees.

Roderick A. Palmore, Paul S. Chervin, Jane Z. Bohrer, Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, Charles F. Marino, Chicago, Ill., Berle L. Schwartz, Goble & Alexrod, Highland Park, Ill., Adeline J. Geo-Karis, Zion, Ill., for defendants-appellants.

Darrell Dunham, Carbondale, Ill., for amicus curiae.

Donald M. Rose, Kathleen Ross, Rose & Ross, Rolling Meadows, Ill., for defendants-appellees, Mayor of Rolling Meadows, Rolling Meadows City Council and City of Rolling Meadows.

Before BAUER, Chief Judge, FLAUM and EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judges.

BAUER, Chief Judge.

In these two appeals, consolidated for decision in the district court, we are asked to determine whether the Establishment Clause of the first amendment prohibits the use of sectarian religious symbolism on a municipality's corporate seal. In both cases, we find that sectarian religious imagery simply has no place on municipal seals.

In Kuhn v. City of Rolling Meadows and Harris v. City of Zion, both at 729 F.Supp. 1242 (N.D.Ill.1990), the Society of Separationists ("Society") and two of its members, Theodore M. Kuhn and Clint W. Harris, filed suit against the cities of Rolling Meadows and Zion, respectively, as well as against their mayors and members of their city councils in their official capacities, under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. Both suits seek declaratory and injunctive relief. The plaintiffs in each case claim that the seal of Rolling Meadows and the seal, emblem and logo of Zion violate the Establishment Clause of the first amendment because they contain Christian symbolism. All parties moved for summary judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56.

The district judge drew a fine distinction between the two cases. In Kuhn, the district court found that, although the official seal of Rolling Meadows contains a Latin cross, it does not violate the first amendment. Thus, the court denied the plaintiffs' motion and later entered judgment for the City of Rolling Meadows. In Harris, however, the district court found that Zion's seal, emblem and logo do present constitutional violations. The court granted the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, enjoining Zion from further use of its current seal, emblem and logo. Theodore M. Kuhn and the Society (plaintiffs in Kuhn ) and the City of Zion (defendant in Harris ) appealed. Finding that both the seal of Rolling Meadows and the seal, emblem, and logo of Zion represent unconstitutional uses of religious imagery, we reverse the district court judgment in Kuhn, and affirm in Harris. ¹

I. Background

A. Rolling Meadows

Rolling Meadows adopted its current seal in 1960, in celebration of the City's fifth anniversary. The seal was designed as a school art assignment by Cheryl Knudsen, then an eighth grade student at the Salk School in Rolling Meadows. ² Knudsen simply drew the things she saw in Rolling Meadows: inside her design of a four-leaf clover, she drew a tree in one section, a bird in another, a school in the third, and the new church being built in her neighborhood in the last section. The anniversary committee that presented the winning design to the City Council for approval altered Knudsen's design somewhat. The tree was changed to a leaf, and the bird was replaced by a water tower and two industrial buildings. The neighborhood church was retained. This final design was approved by the Rolling Meadows City Council in June 1960. (See Appendix A for Rolling Meadows seal.) The Rolling Meadows seal is displayed on all City-owned vehicles, including police patrol cars. The seal is also found on City letterhead, on the shoulder patches worn by uniformed members of the Rolling Meadows Police Department, on the residents' garbage sacks, on vehicle tax stickers, and in the City Council chambers.

Kuhn and the Society sued, objecting to the Latin cross (i.e. a cross whose base stem is longer than the other three arms) in the right quadrant of the Rolling Meadows seal. This cross stands prominently before a one story building--the church that was under construction in Cheryl Knudsen's neighborhood back in 1960. While the building depicted in the right quadrant of the seal is not obviously a church (its flat appearance could suggest another industrial building or a school), there is no doubt that the structure in front of the building is a Latin cross. There also can be no doubt that a Latin cross is the principal and unmistakable symbol of Christianity as practiced in this country today. See American Civil Liberties Union v. City of St. Charles, 794 F.2d 265, 267 (7th Cir.) (enjoining St. Charles' prominent display of a lighted Latin Cross as part of the municipality's annual Christmas display), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 961, 107 S.Ct. 458, 93 L.Ed.2d 403 (1986).

Kuhn and the Society claimed that the presence of the cross on the Rolling Meadows seal promotes or endorses Christianity and, thus, violates the first amendment which prohibits any law "respecting the establishment of religion." U.S. Const. amend. I. The district court found that, in the context of the Rolling Meadows seal, the relation between the cross and Christianity is weak. The court believed that the other images in the seal--specifically, the leaf, the industrial scene and the school--"neutralize" the sectarian impact of the cross and preclude any unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity. Kuhn, 729 F.Supp. at 1248. From this decision, Kuhn and the Society appealed.

B. Zion

To understand the genesis and design of Zion's corporate seal, emblem and logo, we must consider the rather unique history of the City. In 1896, the Reverend John Alexander Dowie founded the Christian Catholic Church, an evangelical protestant sect that still flourishes today in a world-wide fellowship. Six years after the founding of the Church, Reverend Dowie established the City of Zion in Lake County, Illinois, in March 1902. The May 3, 1902 edition of "Leaves of Healing," the Church newsletter edited by Dowie, explains the reasons for which Zion was founded: "Zion City ... is being built for the purpose of the extension of the kingdom of God upon earth ... where God shall rule in every department of family, industry, commercial, educational, ecclesiastical and political life."

At the first meeting of the Zion City Council on May 6, 1902, Reverend Dowie, who had assumed the title "General Overseer of the Christian Catholic Church in Zion," presented the new City Council with a proposed corporate seal. This proposed seal consisted of a shield draped with a ribbon that reads "God Reigns" and encircled by the words "Corporate Seal" and "City of Zion, Illinois." The shield lies in the center of the seal and is divided into four sections. Each section contains a different symbol. The left section contains a Latin cross; the upper section contains a dove carrying a branch; the right section contains a sword and a crown; and the lower section contains the name "Zion." In presenting the proposed seal to the Zion City Council, Reverend Dowie urged:

I ask you to accept (this seal) and use it reverently. Let no hand ever hold this lever and put this seal to anything that God does not approve. Let the officer who uses this seal feel, as he pulls this lever and makes this impression, "God Reigns," that the document must be such a one as God approves.

May every commission of every officer which bears the seal of this City be looked upon as solemn thing; that it is a commission to bear such authority, however small or great, as God's minister--God's minister in law--God's minister in the Eternal Covenant in a measure.

Minutes of First Council Meeting, City of Zion, May 6, 1902. Reverend Dowie also explained the meaning of the symbols included in the seal:

Look at the Dove which is the emblem of the Holy Spirit, bearing the Message of Peace and Love over the seas. The Cross represents everything to us in Redemption, Salvation, Healing, Cleaning and Keeping Power. The Sword is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Crown is the Crown of Glory, the Crown of Joy, the Crown of Righteousness, the Crown of Rejoicing.

Id.

The City Council unanimously approved Reverend Dowie's proposal, and his design has remained the corporate seal for the City of Zion until the present day. ³ (See Appendix B for the Zion seal.) The Zion City Council later designed the City's emblem and logo. The emblem is simply the central part of the seal, consisting of the shield with its four sections, and the ribbon that reads "God Reigns." The logo also is derived from the seal. The logo is circular and contains a large "Z." To the left of the "Z" lies a Latin cross; to the right of the "Z" lies the crown and the scepter; and above the "Z" flies the dove carrying the branch. (See Appendices C and D for the Zion emblem and logo.) The seal or emblem appears on the City flag, on the City letterhead, in the City Council chambers, on City vehicle stickers of all vehicles operated by Zion residents, and on the shoulder patches of City police officers and fire fighters. The logo appears on the Zion water tower and on City street signs.

The district court found that the images displayed on the Zion seal, emblem, and logo function as strong symbols of a particular sect of Christianity with nothing to "neutralize" the religious message. "The City of Zion's seal, emblem and logo have the effect of endorsing a Christian message. Nothing more...