Ventura County Removes Junipero Serra from County Seal After Atheist Protest

On Tuesday, May 24 at 5 PM the Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted to remove Junipero Serra from their county seal. After a long campaign by indigenous communities and atheist nonprofits, the Board of Supervisors accepted a new, secular design that beautifully highlights the area’s natural beauty.

“Today marks a beautiful moment in Ventura County history. The new seal is vibrant, inclusive, and finally welcoming to all residents regardless of religious identification, “ said Evan Clark, Atheists United’s Executive Director. “Indigenous and non-christian communities suffered enslavement and genocide under Catholic rule and figures like Junipero Serra need to never be platformed again.”

In August of 2020 Atheists United joined the ongoing protests against the Ventura County seal by sending an open letter expressing our concern with the religious imagery. The community also organized a petition to change the seal that read:

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. 

Atheists Demand Removal of Bigot Serra from Ventura County Seal

Atheists United, the largest atheist member organization in California, sent a open letter on Monday urging the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to remove Junipero Serra from their official seal.

”The non-christian and indigenous communities of Ventura County demand better than a bigot as the symbol of their county,” said Evan Clark, Executive Director of Atheists United. “We demand the Board of Supervisors immediately remove this unconstitutional and hateful symbol of white, religious supremacy.”