Ohio city refuses to let Christian group display crosses on its headquarters

COLUMBUS, Ohio (LifeSiteNews) — The Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) says it is considering legal action after local authorities denied their request to erect a trio of crosses on the top of their downtown Columbus headquarters.

As detailed in a staff report from the City of Columbus Department of Development’s Downtown Commission, the proposed rooftop display was to consist of three LED-lit aluminum crosses, the largest middle cross being 12 feet high.

The six-member commission unanimously denied the application based on the report’s conclusion that “Downtown guidelines state for Rooftop Structures and Uses, that commercial advertising and graphics are not appropriate for rooftop spaces” and that “large rooftop signs are typically located on multi-story towers and should be proportional to building height and mass as well as compatible with the building architecture.”

“Staff encourage the applicant to consider integrating the concept into a wall or projecting sign that is more pedestrian oriented in nature,” the report adds.

In response, CCV president Aaron Baer emphatically rejected the commission’s rationale.

“Our team took great care to design artwork that fully complies with the city’s code and design standards. That’s why this decision is so troubling,” he said. “The Columbus Downtown Commission didn’t just reject artwork — it rejected a clear expression of faith. We strongly disagree with this decision, and we believe it raises serious First Amendment concerns. We look forward to working with the city to correct this and ensure that religious expression is treated fairly in Columbus.”

Baer later told the Daily Signal that he found the commission’s reasoning “very unclear” and that while crosses may not be “artwork to them, but to us, there’s nothing more beautiful than things that display the love of our Savior.”

“Certainly legal recourse is not off the table here,” he said. “We want our legal team involved to evaluate this to make sure we can properly avail ourselves of our rights.”

“I think for a lot of Christians this is resonating because all we’re trying to do is avail ourselves of our basic American freedoms, and the city is making us jump through all of these hoops to do that,” Baer added. “It’s just frustrating.”

Under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, public spaces cannot discriminate on the basis of religion. So a legal challenge would most likely require producing examples of similarly-sized, freestanding rooftop displays of a secular nature that the city approved or religious applications that fit into a “wall or projecting sign that is more pedestrian oriented in nature” yet the city rejected anyway.