A former candidate for comptroller in Illinois who made headlines by turning backwards a pro-atheism sign in the state capitol is continuing his fight against what he calls "hate speech" against Christianity.

William J. Kelly got into trouble in 2009 when he turned around a sign that said: "There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is just a myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

He called the sign, posted by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, hate speech because it attacks the faith of others.

He's reviving his effort against what he calls the government's lack of neutrality in a statement about the sign, which is being posted again at the Springfield, Ill., capitol building and elsewhere across the nation.

He points out that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Constitution requires accommodation for religion and forbids "hostility," which is what he says the anti-religion posting represents.

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"What they're actually doing, in my opinion, is hate speech against Christianity," he told WND. "There's this argument that this is somehow free speech. That would not hold up if I somehow engaged in some variation … bashing other religions.'

He said it is faith that has made America great, and the Constitution provides for recognition of that.

"This type of hate speech is wrong," he said.

It is ominous, he said, that the city of Chicago has allowed the display of large "A" to represent atheism at Daley Plaza, the city's traditional Christmas center.

When he took on the display in the Springfield rotunda in 2009, he was detained by security and then removed from the building.

Kelly contends the sign represents a violation of the constitutional requirement that religion be accommodated not just tolerated.

At the time of the 2009 dispute, a blogger noted: "The Freedom from Religion Foundation says it simply wants all religions to be treated equally, including the religion of atheism. (On second thought, they might object to being called a religion.) If the Illinois state government allows one religious symbol, a nativity scene, in the state Capitol, surely it must allow other religious or philosophical symbols of other religions: a menorah, a crescent and star, or whatever would symbolize the sincerely held beliefs of atheists … the Great Black Bowling Ball of Oblivion, perhaps."

But the blogger pointed out there might have been additional reaction had the message been: "Judaism is just myth and superstition that bewitches believers and damns souls."

"Does anyone believe that such a (purely hypothetical) sign would be allowed under the Illinois state capitol dome? Obviously not, because it is not so much an expression of faith as an attack on other people's faith."

The writer continued: "As is the plaque placed by the Freedom from Religion Foundation. It may be sincere mockery, but mockery and attack it clearly is."

The report noted that FFRF spokesman Dan Barker admitted as much.

"He's kind of right," he said of Kelly, according to the column, "because the last couple of sentences do criticize religion, and of course, the beginning is a celebration of the winter solstice."