OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) — An online petition has been started to save a bench in Justus Park in Oil City that The American Atheists Legal Center (AALC) says has wording that violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.”

(Photo courtesy of Jason Reed)

The bench in question has been in the park for 13 years after being donated by the Oil City VFW Post 464 in 2013. It’s inscribed with the words “Men Who Aren’t Governed By God, Will Be Governed By Tyrants,” which the AALC claims is a violation of the First Amendment.

A 2013 document from the American Civil Liberties of Massachusetts states that the organization believes “The government may permit a private organization to place a religious display on public property under certain circumstances,” and the United States Supreme Court has ruled in a number of cases regarding religious displays, mostly dealing with the Ten Commandments but also religious displays including the following cases:

– the 1988 case  Allegheny vs. ACLU
– the 2005 case Van Orden vs. Perry and
– the 2008 case Pleasant Grove vs. Summum.

Oil City Mayor William P. Moon previously told exploreClarion.com that the cost of a court battle is something the city can’t afford.

“With our financial status, we decided we wouldn’t have the means to handle it legally, and it would probably have to go to the Supreme Court,” Moon explained.

Now, an online petition directed at Mayor Moon and the Oil City Derrick Newspaper to save the bench has been started quoting scripture from Joel 2:17 “Tell my servants, the priests, to cry inside the temple and to offer this prayer near the altar: ‘Save your people, Lord God! Don’t let foreign nations make jokes about us. Don’t let them laugh and ask, ‘Where is your God?’’”

A phone call to Mayor Moon requesting comment on the petition was not returned Wednesday.