DECORAH, Iowa (AP) — A northeast Iowa sheriff is being praised and criticized for posting a religious Easter greeting on the department’s Facebook page. Sunday’s post remained on the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office page Friday morning, and Sheriff Dan Marx told the Mason City Globe Gazette he doesn’t intend to remove it. The post includes the words “He is risen” imposed over a photo showing a cross on the crest of a hill being illuminated from behind by the sun. To its right is a message: “Happy Easter from all of us at the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office.”

ACLU of Iowa executive director Mark Stringer says the post on the department’s official Facebook page “is grossly inappropriate under our traditions of religious freedom enshrined” in the Iowa and U.S. constitutions. Several people posted comments in praise of the sheriff’s action, while others said the Christian post had no business being on the department’s page.