Bradley County, Tennessee and the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office have reached a settlement with American Atheists in a federal lawsuit alleging that Bradley County and Bradley County Sheriff Eric Watson violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In May, Sheriff Watson used the department’s Facebook page to post an explicitly religious Easter message. American Atheists sent a letter advising against such religious messages on a government-sponsored social media site.

Watson made it clear he planned to continue to use his position and social media outlets associated with it to proselytize.

When local activists took issue and posted comments on the department’s Facebook wall, the were banned from accessing the page. The Facebook page was then shut down following the lawsuit.

As part of the settlement now reached, the new official Bradley County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page will not be used to “promote or further any religion, religious organization, religious event or religious belief.”

The county will pay $15,000 in damages to American Atheists and our two local plaintiffs who were blocked from the department’s page. They will also pay will pay an additional $26,000 in legal fees.

“This settlement is a clear win for the plaintiffs, whose First Amendment rights to free speech and to be free of government establishment of religion were infringed upon,” said Amanda Knief, National Legal and Public Policy Director of American Atheists. We are pleased the sheriff has agreed to do the right thing by no longer using this official government social media account to promote religion.”

“What is unfortunate, is that it took a lawsuit and more than $40,000 in taxpayer money for the county and sheriff to put this common sense policy in place,” Knief added. “We would have preferred that the sheriff allow citizens the freedom to comment and interact with the sheriff’s office on the Facebook page, but we were not able to reach agreement on that during mediation.”

A plaintiff in the case, who wishes to remain anonymous, also said they were happy with the ruling, and wishes a lawsuit could have been avoided, to begin with.

I’m satisfied with the outcome of our case against Bradley County and the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office. I did not want a lawsuit, but citizens have a right to speak to their government no matter what the platform, and my main goal was to make sure that people who posted to the BCSO page were not censored. This goal was not completely achieved because the sheriff’s office has chosen to have no comments from the public on its Facebook page rather than deal with negative comments. However, this new policy does prevent censorship against certain people or certain viewpoints. I am a firm believer in the First Amendment of the Constitution. I strongly believe the separation of church and state protects everyone’s right to have religious or non-religious beliefs. I celebrate our freedom to speak our minds to our elected officials. We elect them to protect our constitutional rights and act on our behalf and, when they don’t, they need to be held accountable. I have always said that Constitutional rights are worth fighting for, and I am proud that when tested, I stood by that principle. It was not easy to stand up to the county sheriff and some people in my community who disagreed with me. Despite some negative backlash, I do not regret taking action against government censorship. If you don’t stand up for yourself, you risk losing your rights. Many thanks to American Atheists, which works to protect the rights of atheists and religious minorities and to keep church and state separate, and to Amanda Knief, their legal director: her guidance was invaluable.

The sheriff will be allowed to keep a personal Facebook page and post whatever religious messages he pleased, but the court ordered that his page must be clearly marked as not acting in the official capacity as sheriff and are his personal beliefs and thoughts only.

Regardless of the clear loss in court, the sheriff and the county admit no wrongdoing.