NATCHEZ — Sheriff Travis Patten said he has no plans to give into outside pressure to remove the religious insignia from the sheriff’s office Special Operations Group logo.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is requesting that Patten remove a Christian emblem within the logo, which references Romans 13:4 from the New Testament of the Bible.

Romans 13:4 reads: “For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”

Patten said the members of the Special Operations Group designed the logo and asked his permission to include the Christian reference, which Patten said he gave.

“These are men and women who put their lives on the line daily for people they don’t know, and they designed those patches themselves,” Patten said. “That is something they feel strongly about and believe in.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation claims the referencing of a biblical quote on the Adams County Sheriff’s Office property violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that the First Amendment ‘mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion,’” FFRF Staff Attorney Sam Grover wrote in a letter to Patten. “Referencing the New Testament on law enforcement property fails to respect either constitutional mandate of neutrality.”

The foundation argues the logo unconstitutionally endorses Christianity, but also risks alienating the nearly 30 percent of Americans who are non-Christian.

“There is no justification for the display of such overtly sectarian religiosity on the part of a public entity,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said. “To be truly inclusive, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office must modify the logo.”

Patten said the religious reference is important to his deputies, and he does not see a need to change it.

“As far as I am concerned, (Freedom From Religion Foundation) can stay up there in Madison, Wisconsin,” Patten said. “We don’t go up there and tell them what to do. They don’t need to come down here and say what is best for Adams County.”