Friday, March 29, 2024

School Removes Christian Mural Following Pressure from Hard-Left, Atheist Group

The left’s crusade against Christianity has hit a new low: a mural invoking God and faith in a high school locker room has been covered in response to pressure from atheist, Freedom From Religion Foundation Foundation (FFRF) activists.

The mural at Letcher Central High School featured Jeremiah 20:11 – “But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior” – and was positioned above athletes’ lockers.

Mural in Letcher Central High School locker room.

 

After a letter from the notoriously left-wing, atheist activist group FFRF describing the display as “unconstitutional”, claiming it violates the “basic constitutional prohibition by creating the appearance that the District prefers religion over nonreligion and Christianity over all faiths,” the mural was erased.

The letter demanded:

“Please remove all religious displays from the District immediately. Please reply in writing with the steps the District is taking to remedy these constitutional violations.” 

While the 10-word artwork is the latest target of FFRF, the group also “condemned [the] court ruling upholding Muslim travel ban,” and firmly supports abortion, and opposes bible classes and school prayer.

FFRF’s explanation for seldom taking on cases involving Islam is as laughable as their other political positions. The group claims: “Christians are simply more likely to violate the Constitution,” and that “Christian persecution is not the problem in America; Christian privilege is.”

While the FFRF letter was sent November 4th 2019, Letcher County superintendent Denise Yonts responded in late February, acquiescing to the foundation’s request by agreeing to remove not just the locker room mural but a bulletin board message proclaiming “Jesus is my savior. You can’t scare me!” and a Facebook post sharing a prayer for children at the beginning of the school year:

“Dear God, Thank you for the gift of education in every form. As our children prepare to start a new year may confidence be their foundation, may grace be their guide and may hope be their compass toward a bright future. I pray they would have eyes to see the needs of those around them and a heart to love well. May they face each day with positivity knowing that no matter what comes their way, they do not have to face it alone. Amen.”

In the letter, Yonts detailed the school’s course of action: “The bulletin board has been replaced, the Facebook post has been removed, and the locker room has been repainted.”

Yonts also issued a public statement on the school’s Facebook page, promising to defend religious freedom throughout the school district:

In response to a recent article published by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, I want to assure our students and parents that I and the Letcher County Board of Education support our students’ religious freedoms in our schools (KRS 158.183). After receiving complaints from FFRF, I consulted with the board attorney for advice, and we followed the law regarding religious displays. Only displays that in our opinion did not comply with the law were removed. Student generated religious displays, clubs, or activities are a very meaningful part of the culture of Letcher County Schools. Following the law allows us to continue to protect our students’ religious freedoms, and as the Superintendent, I will always do what’s best for our Letcher County students.”

FFRF hailed the removal as a victory. In a press release, they commented:

“FFRF commends the district for taking action to address these complaints and taking a critical step to ensure all students’ views are honored. Given that almost two-fifths of younger Americans — those born after 1987 — are nonreligious, the presence of this sort of religious iconography in schools is particularly exclusionary. We applaud the district for taking action to remedy this violation,” comments FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Students in our public schools are free to practice any religion they choose — or none at all.”

FFRF’s activism represents a prime example of unbridled political correctness fueled by anti-Christian bias: the only way the left can instill their secular and social justice-driven values are in a godless world.

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