The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to the U.S. Postal Service today to implore them to remove religious iconography from contract vehicles, after receiving a complaint about an image of praying hands on the side of a truck carrying U.S. mail.

A concerned taxpayer brought the U.S. Postal Service's state-church violation to the attention of FFRF. FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert sent a July 2 letter to the Postal Service's counsel asking that such religious symbols be removed.

The counsel replied to FFRF that the Postal Service takes no position on whether an image of clasped hands "constitute[s] religious imagery under an Establishment Clause analysis." FFRF disagrees, and cited multiple federal court cases as well as historical examples in a July 31 follow-up letter to prove that clasped hands are both legally and traditionally understood to be a religious image.



No branch of federal government can take any action that demonstrates preference for or endorsement of religion over nonreligion. This prohibition extends to those contracting with the federal government to carry out governmental duties like mail delivery.



The nonreligious now make up over 20% of the United States' population. The government violates the Constitution and isolates nonreligious Americans when it allows government trucks to be plastered with religious symbols.



"The simplest, most rational course of action would be to remove the religious symbols from the vehicle and any other vehicles which may bear similar imagery that are being used in the service of the Postal Service," wrote Markert.



The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a nonprofit state-church watchdog with headquarters in Madison, Wis., and 19,000 members across the country.



Special thanks to FFRF interns Sarah Eucalano and Josh Glasgow.

Click here to view FFRF's letter to the U.S. Post Office.