On behalf of all non-christian members of Ventura County, we encourage you to remove the image of Junipero Serra from the Ventura County seal.

Junipero Serra helped establish the California Mission system during an era of Spanish colonization. He and his colleagues systemically banned indigenous beliefs and customs, forced Catholicism and European culture, and imprisoned and beat those that refused to conform. This is a face of white, religious supremacy that should not have been platformed, and in this moment of reexamination of symbols and speech cannot be ignored. We stand with the thousands of Ventura County residents uniting for change. 

Ventura's non-Christians and nontheists do not want their home to be signified by a Catholic religious figure or institution. 

The inclusion of an explicitly religious figure on an official government seal is also unequivocally in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Federal courts have consistently ruled that religious symbols on official city logos or representations violate the Establishment Clause, and The Ventura County seal would surely be found unconstitutional.

The County has an incredible opportunity at this moment to remove an exclusionary religious image from its official seal and celebrate the religious and cultural diversity if its people. Nearly 30% of adults in the U.S. are non-Christian, and 24% practice no religion at all. The only constitutional and inclusive path forward that atheists and our religious allies will accept is for the County to remain neutral on matters of religion. 

We urge the County to find new imagery for its seal that’s free of religious privilege and welcoming to all religious and secular identities.