Jesus is his savior, but he doesn't want to read about it from the back seat of a patrol car
This week's column.
Just so you know, says M. Reza Salami, the N.C. A&T professor who challenged the appropriateness of a "Jesus" sign in a sheriff deputy's patrol car, he likes Christmas.
And he voted twice for George W. Bush, even though he's a Democrat.
And he is, in fact, a "practicing Christian," who keeps a portrait of Christ by his bedside. "I believe Jesus came to save me," he said.
His wife, Mary, is "a devout Catholic," he says, as is his son, a recent UNC-Chapel Hill graduate who is now attending graduate school in Chapel Hill. And his nephew, who happens to be a bishop in Santa Fe, N.M.
On Nov. 24, Salami, an Iranian American, was ticketed at a sobriety checkpoint for driving with open alcohol containers in his car.
But that's not what's won him infamy in the News & Record's letters column.
It was his audacity to complain that the deputy's patrol car contained a sticker on the divider between the front and the back seat that proclaimed: "Jesus is your Savior."
So, why didn't he make it clear he was a Christian from the start? And why lodge a complaint about the sign with Americans United for Separation of Church and State if Jesus is indeed his savior?
"Because I believe from my heart in the Constitution of the United States," Salami said.
A round, genial man with receding, gray-flecked curly hair, Salami smiled often and wore an American flag pin on the lapel of his double-breasted suit jacket.
Salami came to America as a teenager in December 1973. He helped put himself through college by working as a dishwasher, among other jobs, ultimately earning a master's degree from Virginia Tech and his doctorate in engineering from the University of Arizona. He became a U.S. citizen 20 years ago.
Salami contends he never said he was offended by the sticker. But he did consider it inappropriate in a county-owned and -operated vehicle.
"The public car should belong to the public," he said. "What if they put up ‘Satan is Lord'? Would that be OK?"
He added: "We don't want to be someplace like Saudi Arabia. Do we want that here?"
Though he is not a Muslim, Salami says, he respects Islam, but not what some extremists have done in the name of Islam.
"I respect all religions," he said, "but not the fanatical ones. I am ashamed of what they have done. I am 100 percent against fanatics no matter what the religion."
Salami has been the center of a debate ever since his traffic stop and his subsequent complaint against the Sheriff's Office made the newspaper. And the morning radio talk shows.
His wife called him from home to let him know he'd made the local air waves.
"She said, ‘They're talking extremely nasty about you,' " he said. "They were saying, ‘Take him to Saudi Arabia.' They were assuming I was a terrorist."
Not only did Salami face their wrath because of his objection to the Jesus sign. Many listeners also assumed he had been drinking while driving. Not so, Salami insists.
He was driving the open wine bottles to a local recycling center, he said.
"I was not drunk," he said. "Those bottles were empty and washed. My car was full of stuff for recycling .... an old clock, dishes, pieces of oak. Those bottles were on top of all that.
"What's the reason I'm driving with empty bottles and I'm not drunk?" he added, noting that he passed a blood-alcohol test.
So, why not simply chuck the bottles in his home recycling bin?
Salami said he was headed to Habitat for Humanity's Re-Store facility on High Point Road. He said he thought his old stuff, empty bottles included, would be of greater use there.
He also praised the deputy who ticketed him, as well as his supervisor. "Those officers were so nice. We talked."
He said he has invited both of them to his house for chopped barbecue.
But that's not to say he's backing off on the complaint he filed with Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Despite his own Christian faith, Salami said, he has seen the damage that can result when government and religion mix. Or when, spurred by hypocrisy and self-interest, man recreates God in man's image.
Meanwhile, Salami certainly has not shied from the controversy.
Upon hearing the buzz about him on a local talk radio station he promptly called the station and asked for an on-the-air interview to tell his side of the story.
He wrote a News & Record op-ed. He readily consented to a follow-up interview.
He seems to relish the fight.
Some question his motives, saying his campaign against the Jesus sticker is rooted in the resentment that he was ticketed by the deputy in the first place. He denies that. But only he knows his motives.
And his motives, frankly, are beside the point.
So is his religion. It shouldn't really matter whether he is Muslim, Jew or Christian.
Religious expression in a government car does blur a constitutional line.
Sheriff BJ Barnes said Thursday that the sign as displayed in the deputy's car was "inappropriate." "It needs to be up in your work area if that's what you want to have and want to use."
But at least one legal expert says a front-seat religious sign is just as inappropriate as one in the back seat.
"I think the law is pretty clear that that is not allowed," Duke law professor and constitutional law specialist Irwin Chemerinsky told the News & Record's Sonja Elmquist.
Beyond the legal arguments, there is a spiritual one as well. The best billboard for our beliefs is not in words and symbols — which can become causes unto themselves — but in our deeds.
For his part, Salami vows to take this issue as far as he can.
"I assure you," he said. "If it goes to the Supreme Court, it goes to the Supreme Court."
Comments (6)
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Question: Does the N&R allow personalization of company owned vehicles? The reason I ask is most companies don' tallow their employees to personalize or otherwise customize their fleets-- why? Because those things reduce the resale value of used rolling stock and cost companies money.
Shouldn't government fleets be subject to the same kinds of rules? This is a fight that never should have happened in the first place and taxpayers should demand that all personalization of government vehicles be stopped immediately.
And I don't want to hear how a car is an officer's rolling office or how they spend 8-10 hours a day inside their cars as I spent 28 years as a long haul trucker spending 20 or more hours a day inside my own rolling offices and the vast majority of companies I worked for, including all the best paying companies I worked for, never allowed any personalization of fleets.
Posted on December 18, 2007 10:04 AM
I feel we should not allow individuals to use the freedom which is given to them to take it for granted. We state the United States of America (the melting pot of cultures) is a free country and Salmai has had his say and made his religious choice known. He has talked about his religion and his families. He has expressed himself well. However, The point is you broke the law. Sheriff B. J. Barnes contradicted himself; Barnes said Thursday that the sign as displayed in the deputy's car was "inappropriate." "It needs to be up in your work area if that's what you want to have and want to use."
As much as we want to deny the officer of his rights, this is his work area; be it government fleet or a government office. This officer is just doing his job this is what my tax dollars pay for.
I would hate to hear later about the terrible death of some individual at the hand of Salmai. “Because he has declared that he will fight until the end even going to the Supreme Courts”. He should not be allowed to waste tax-payers money. Individuals have come to the aid of Samai who has broken the law. But let’s get back to the point YOU BROKE THE LAW . “If I can’t have open containers in my vehicle than neither can you”. Salami, B.J. Barnes and others have become the judge and jury on a matter which does not need to be tried. The officer is doing his duty to serve and protect.
Posted on December 19, 2007 10:01 AM
The government employee needs to keep his religion off of the government property. Any person of the law should know that basic law.
Posted on December 19, 2007 7:14 PM
The government employee needs to keep his religion off of the government property. Any person of the law should know that basic law.
Posted on December 19, 2007 7:20 PM
Thank you for a well written article. So many people jumped to so many assumptions about Mr. Salami, depending on their particular view, before they knew the facts. Your article cleared up many of these. We, as citizens, are really pretty ignorant of our constitution and bill of rights. Our sheriff should not be one of these.
Posted on December 20, 2007 1:34 PM
Thank you for a well written article. So many people jumped to so many assumptions about Mr. Salami, depending on their particular view, before they knew the facts. Your article cleared up many of these. We, as citizens, are really pretty ignorant of our constitution and bill of rights. Our sheriff should not be one of these.
Posted on December 20, 2007 1:34 PM