Dallas megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffress Tuesday complained that the city's mayor and other officials' complaints led to the removal of billboards advertising special patriotic services planned for this coming Sunday.
"I will be bringing a special message titled 'America is a Christian nation,' in which I recount the historical evidence for the Christian foundation of our country," Jeffress, pastor of the 13,000-member First Baptist Church and a Fox News contributor, told "Fox & Friends."
After billboards proclaiming that "America is a Christian Nation" went up, the Dallas Morning News wrote an article "accusing me of being hateful and divisive," said Jeffress.
The newspaper quoted Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and his communications officer, said Jeffress, "who said I was divisive and that these words do not represent who Dallas is. Twenty-four hours later, we received notice from the billboard company that they were going to take down the billboards."
He said the company, Outfront Media, cited the newspaper article with the mayor's comments when telling him about the billboards.
Jeffress said his church supports the right of the billboard company to pull the messages it disagrees with, but "what we don't support is the mayor of Dallas and his chief communications officer weighing in on this topic showing hostility of our church and directly or influencing the billboard company. . . We believe Mayor Mike Rawlings has shown hostility toward our church."
He said he believes the mayor opposes his message because "he's very liberal, and it's interesting. When the American atheists put up a billboard at Christmas time saying skip church, Christianity is fake news, we didn't hear the mayor calling that divisive or saying that doesn't represent Dallas."
However, the minister said, Rawlings "feels threatened by the message that America is a Christian nation, and by the way, that phrase is not something I originated."
The United States has welcomed people of all or no faith, Jeffress added, but "by and large, our founders were orthodox Christians who believed that the success of our nation depended upon our fidelity to God and to his word."
He added that the the American atheist group will be protesting at his church on Sunday, but "we welcome them and anyone to come hear the truth and decide for yourself whether or not America is a Christian nation."