A group of residents at Quincy, Massachusetts, is suing to block the city from installing two statues of Catholic saints outside its new public safety building. 

The Quincy mayor, Thomas Koch, initially shared plans to install two 10-foot bronze statues of the saints Michael and Florian — considered the patron saints of police and firefighters — outside the new public safety building in February. The two statutes reportedly cost taxpayers $850,000.

Mr. Koch defended the decision when it was first announced in February. He told NBC10 Boston that the figures “transcend faith” and religions.

“Police officers hold in high regard the image of St. Michael. It speaks for truth and justice, good over evil. Florian speaks to bravery and courage, and it goes back to Roman soldiers in charge of the fire brigades,” Mr. Koch said. “Both images have been recognized by police and fire services for hundreds of years.”

Additionally, he defended the price tag of the statues, as he said the cost of the public safety building is $170 million, so it is “not a large sum in and of itself.”

The police chief of Quincy, Mark Kennedy, told NBC 10 he was “honored” by the plan and said the statues are about the battle between good and evil. 

Some residents, however, are not thrilled with the plan. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU, and the ACLU of Massachusetts are representing a group of plaintiffs of “diverse faiths.”

The lawsuit argues that the statues violated Article 3 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights because they would be “imposing religious symbols upon all who work in, visit or pass by the public safety building” and “conveying the message that Quincy is exclusively a Catholic community.”

The complaint notes that some denominations of Christianity and other religions “reject the creation and/or veneration of saints.” It also says their installation will “send a predominantly religious message” and will “communicate that the City supports the display’s religious message and that those Quincy residents who do not venerate these religious saints are regarded as outsiders by public safety officials and their own city government.”

Additionally, the complaint says that the statues not only favor “religion over non-religion, but Catholicism over all other denominations.”

Representatives for the mayor did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. 

The co-president of FFRF, Annie Laurie Gaylor, says that the installation of the statues is a “clear breach of the constitutional wall of separation” and that taxpayers “should not have to foot the bill for an ostentatiously specific religious display.”

Meanwhile, a lawyer for the ACLU, Heather Weaver, says Quincy has “abandoned its constitutional duty to remain neutral on matters of faith.”

“The new public safety building will be home to many critical government services, but the moment they walk in the door, Quincy residents who do not share the city’s favored religious beliefs will get the message that they are not welcome,” she added. 

Quincy, population about 100,000, is in the Boston metro area, where, according to the Pew Research Center, 47 percent of the population identifies as Christians. Twenty-four percent of Christians in the region identify as Catholic, followed by “mainline Protestant” at 10 percent.