The Brewster County Sheriff’s department is facing a lawsuit after placing Latin Crosses on patrol vehicles. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has said that it does not like having religious symbols on government property that is supposed to represent everyone, including non-Christians. Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson said that he “wanted God’s protection over [his] deputies.”

The debate of the proper separation of church and state has been part of the American fabric for a long while. America was founded on the principles of religious freedom and that the government and church (or synagogue, mosque, or temple) were separated. At the same time, religion is a very important aspect to the lives of a tremendous number of people, and understandably it also has a major influence on the decision we make and the ways that we conduct ourselves. The debate over the proper separation between government and religion is an important one, and the answers shouldn’t necessarily come easy to us.

That said, the situation in Brewster looks like the Sheriff is after his 15 minutes of fame. The Sheriff should be well aware that any judge, whether conservative or liberal, would reject the argument that you can display a religious symbol on a government vehicle. These sorts of actions and bids of public attention don’t help to serve the very important debate that we are having in our country, and instead cheapen our national conversation.