This is another example of how local ordinances are being used to incrementalyy take away our freedoms. Professioncal planners do tend to be anti-religious (although not merely anti christian) and are working around the country to add ordinances to communities to "preserve their character" and make them "a place people would want to go". They keep trying to engineer the 'perfect' community, and no sign of religion seems to be part of that vision.
While the professionals are pretty careful to not say anything anti-religious where others will hear them, their attitude spreads to the citizens Planning Commisions. Locally, we had a Lutheran church in town that bought the properties next to them, and wanted to expand their parking to accomodate growth. One of the Planning Commisioners apparently forgot he was in a public meeting, and said he didn't think it should be approved because the church was a cancer on the community. This same planning commision denied the Mormons the opportunity to take several rental houses next to a student apartment complex (with 1500 apartments) and replace them with a community center. They usually are glad to replace rental houses with another use, but apparently this particular use, with it's religious tone wasn't desireable to them. At the time we thought it was because they were mormons, but with the lutheran thing, its broader anti-religious theme showed through.
What's my point? All these ordinances being pushed on us by the American Planning Association - Historic Preservation, Open Space Preservation, Sign Ordinances, Village zoning, Overlay zoning, all have the primary intent of taking choices away from us, and putting them in the hands of people who use them to build their utopian community. Once the ordinances are in place, they are being used everywhere to infringe on our right to practice religion freely, our right to own (and control) property, our right to freely assemble, and our right to be free of unreasonable search and siezure (many of these ordinance require that you permit the enforcement officer in to inspect at any time).
We built the greatest country on earth without any of this, without 5-year plans in our communities, without citizens advisory panels for our neighborhoods, and without local inspectors with police powers. All these things that they say will improve our neighborhoods, raise our property values and bring the right kind of people into our communities are nothing more than Trojan Horses for taking away our rights and giving them to government.
This latest example in Bedford is just one more incident in a pattern going on around the country. It's less sympathetic, because the sign is pretty gaudy and annoying, but the same principles are being used to restrict our rights in one community after another, orchestrated by the socialist American Planning Association.