The Peace Sign

Subdivision bans Christmas wreath with peace sign
By ROBERT WELLER - Associated Press Writer - 11/27/06
DENVER — A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Some residents who have complained have children serving in Iraq, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs. He said some residents have also believed it was a symbol of Satan. Three or four residents complained, he said.

‘‘Somebody could put up signs that say drop bombs on Iraq. If you let one go up you have to let them all go up,’’ he said in a telephone interview Sunday.

Lisa Jensen said she wasn’t thinking of the war when she hung the wreath. She said, ‘‘Peace is way bigger than not being at war. This is a spiritual thing.’’

Jensen, a past association president, calculates the fines will cost her about $1,000, and doubts they will be able to make her pay. But she said she’s not going to take it down until after Christmas.

‘‘Now that it has come to this I feel I can’t get bullied,’’ she said. ‘‘What if they don’t like my Santa Claus.’’

The association in this 200-home subdivision 270 miles southwest of Denver has sent a letter to her saying that residents were offended by the sign and the board ‘‘will not allow signs, flags etc. that can be considered divisive.’’

The subdivision’s rules say no signs, billboards or advertising are permitted without the consent of the architectural control committee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_symbol
Antagonism
The fact that the symbol resembles a bird foot in a circle gave rise to spurious alternative interpretations, ranging from plain mockery of "crow's foot" or "The Footprint of the American Chicken" (suggesting that peace activists were cowards) to a number of occult meanings, such as an upside down crucifix with the arms broken downward, suggesting the way that St. Peter was martyred. Others have claimed that the symbol resembles a medieval sign known as "Nero's Cross" that represents Satanism [citation needed]. Alternatively, some have suggested that the symbol is an inverted Elhaz rune, which would reverse the rune's general meaning from 'life' to 'death'. Gerald Holtom's explanation of the genesis of the symbol and his first drawings of it, however, do not support those interpretations. [1]