Kansas town in uproar over removal of Jesus painting from public middle school

[Johnboy60]

A Kansas middle school is at the center of a mushrooming controversy over the removal of a painting of Jesus from a public hallway.

According to the Wichita Eagle, the print of Warner Sallman’s “Head of Christ” has been hanging in the hall at Royster Middle School in Chanute for decades. However, after a national church and state separation group complained, school officials took the painting down last week.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/08/kan...-of-jesus-painting-from-public-middle-school/

 

[Rick Otto]

Picayune.
No doubt the teachers are underpaid, the administrators overpaid, and they still teach all our cherished lies about everything else.
Might as well complain about the hood ornament on the car that is about to go over a cliff.

It was probably a picture of a Caucasion face anyway.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

It was probably a picture of a Caucasion face anyway.

It was.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

Seems to be a bad case of the stupids going around in Chanute, Kansas.

“Nobody else in the school seemed to be bothered by it,” he said. “There were only one or two evolution kids and they didn’t seem to be bothered by it.

Gurney said she thinks taking the picture down is unpatriotic. “This is still the United States, under God indivisible,” she said.

Non-Christian students were always allowed to sit out the Pledge of Allegiance or skip the annual Christmas movie for religious reasons, said Samantha Barnhart, another Royster alumna who also works at the cafe.

“If you have the right to not participate, we have the right to keep our picture up,” she said. “Just don’t look at it.”

On the other hand, their St. Patrick Catholic School is an award-winning institution.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

How does a painting of Jesus Christ make it's way into a public school?

How is it that none of these educators saw this coming?

Personally, I feel things like this are often done on purpose so that when the evil, godless atheists come in and tell them what they're doing is unconstitutional they can all cry persecution and be a little more like the martyrs they wish they really were.

I do find this a bit more troubling than a picture of Jesus:

“Nobody else in the school seemed to be bothered by it,” said 22-year-old fur-trapper Cody Busby, a self-described “church kid” who attended Royster. “There were only one or two ‘evolution kids’ and they didn’t seem to be bothered by it.”
​

The fact that there were only "one or two evolution kids", which I assume he means people who accept the basic fact of evolution, in a public school and no one, not one teacher, student or administrator finds anything wrong with the promotion of one religion over all others, is far more troubling than the picture of Jesus. It shows a complete failure on the part of the school to provide a decent education.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

How does a painting of Jesus Christ make it's way into a public school?

How is it that none of these educators saw this coming?

Personally, I feel things like this are often done on purpose so that when the evil, godless atheists come in and tell them what they're doing is unconstitutional they can all cry persecution.

The print has been hanging there for 40 years or more. The administration removed it immediately upon being asked to.

 

[SinnerInTheHands]

That same argument would apply here...... permit a painting of Jesus, ya gotta permit a painting of Buddha et al.

Some of us are happy they've taken the painting down. Now if it was verses from scripture or public prayer I'd be arguing differently.

That second commandment, though.

 

[seashale76]

The print has been hanging there for 40 years or more. The administration removed it immediately upon being asked to.

Some people don't realize that all public schools had things like the Ten Commandments and daily bible readings at one time. Some places are just a little behind the rest of the country when it comes to these things. I still remember back in 1984, when the janitors took down all of the Ten Commandments plaques at my elementary school. There was also a bible that was still in the library, but it was in the storage part and not set out with the other books to check out.

My middle school had been a high school and so the library there was extremely interesting (while I was a student there at least). The types of books one could check out doesn't even compare to the public library (that is now the official school library of that same school). They got rid of all kinds of literature as well as controversial books. I remember checking out and reading Mein Kampf in the 8th grade. I don't even know of public school that would carry that book anymore. That same library only carries popular books like Harry Potter and Twilight now, and contains significantly fewer books than it ever did in the past.

 

[^j^RaspberryAngel]

Freedom From Religion Foundation! I knew it was their evil in the news again as soon as I read the thread title.

Their day will come. Cowards. Notice how they're anti-Christian? And don't go after any other religion but Christians?

Their weakness is that they're a 501(c)3.

A Kansas middle school is at the center of a mushrooming controversy over the removal of a painting of Jesus from a public hallway.

According to the Wichita Eagle, the print of Warner Sallman’s “Head of Christ” has been hanging in the hall at Royster Middle School in Chanute for decades. However, after a national church and state separation group complained, school officials took the painting down last week.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/08/kan...-of-jesus-painting-from-public-middle-school/

 

[muichimotsu]

It's not like this is the first time, but as another poster brought up, this isn't surprising, considering it's near impossible to figure out unconstitutional favoring of religion in every single public school to begin with. If it weren't for some people bringing it up, the status quo would still be the same.

A Rhode Island school had a similar issue a few years ago, though not with a picture of Jesus, but an explicitly Christian prayer hung on school grounds (spec. the auditorium, I believe). Jessica Ahlquist was brave to do such a thing, because, believe it or not, the Northeast is not exactly perfectly secular as some seem to think. There's still strong beds of fundamentalism and insistence of Christian favoritism, ironically in an area where a minister is famously known for advocating a hedge of separation between church and state before Thomas Jefferson even brought it up.

I consider myself somewhat lucky, but also unfortunate in that it never came up (surprising, considering my alma mater is in TN and the idea of atheism was considered "weird" back then as I recall), so I had to get a more rapid education in college regarding such things and maintaining the delicate balance that can be preserved between the state acknowledging religion in a passive sense, particular with individual students, versus promoting it through "icons" or evangelism through their position of authority.

I hope one poster was joking in comparing the FFRF to iconoclast Calvinists, since the goal was not suppression of religious belief, but removal of something that grants privileged status to Christians over non Christians in a public school. The Rhode Island "school prayer" was moved to a church or the like, I believe, the FFRF has no issue with such things put in what can be argued to be a place that is relevant and appropriate for the purpose it is intended for, which is proselytism.

 

[Hank77]

ironically in an area where a minister is famously known for advocating a hedge of separation between church and state before Thomas Jefferson even brought it up.

Roger Williams, he had basically gotten kick out of MA because he didn't always agree with the Puritan's theology. I grew up in a northeastern blue state saying the Lord's prayer before class each morning. It used to bother me that prayer had been removed from the public school system, but as I began to lean more towards a libertarian view I changed my attitude about it.

As far as the painting goes, I think it could be hung in the art classroom. It is art. So could any other religious artwork as long as it was not distasteful for the age of the children, nudity, scary, violent, etc..
We aren't going to insist on removing all religious artwork from public museums, are we?

 

[Ada Lovelace]

If it was a cherished mural that had to be painted over in order to be removed then I could better understand the ire, but since it was a generic appearing portrait that could simply be picked up and moved without any harm being caused to it, I think the reaction is absurdly disproportionate. With 30 churches in a city with a population of 9200 there are ample places for it to be hosted.

How does a painting of Jesus Christ make it's way into a public school?

How is it that none of these educators saw this coming?

Personally, I feel things like this are often done on purpose so that when the evil, godless atheists come in and tell them what they're doing is unconstitutional they can all cry persecution and be a little more like the martyrs they wish they really were.

I do find this a bit more troubling than a picture of Jesus:

“Nobody else in the school seemed to be bothered by it,” said 22-year-old fur-trapper Cody Busby, a self-described “church kid” who attended Royster. “There were only one or two ‘evolution kids’ and they didn’t seem to be bothered by it.”
​

The fact that there were only "one or two evolution kids", which I assume he means people who accept the basic fact of evolution, in a public school and no one, not one teacher, student or administrator finds anything wrong with the promotion of one religion over all others, is far more troubling than the picture of Jesus. It shows a complete failure on the part of the school to provide a decent education.

QFT. That's precisely what stood out to me.

"Evolution kids"

Hmmmmmm. I wonder if Evolution Juice is served at the Starbucks in that town, or if residents would be appalled by it and claim it was like drinking atheism. I wonder if they even have Starbucks in such a town, actually.

 

[muichimotsu]

Roger Williams, he had basically gotten kick out of MA because he didn't always agree with the Puritan's theology. I grew up in a northeastern blue state saying the Lord's prayer before class each morning. It used to bother me that prayer had been removed from the public school system, but as I began to lean more towards a libertarian view I changed my attitude about it.

As far as the painting goes, I think it could be hung in the art classroom. It is art. So could any other religious artwork as long as it was not distasteful for the age of the children, nudity, scary, violent, etc..
We aren't going to insist on removing all religious artwork from public museums, are we?

Public museums have a specific purpose of showing off art, school showing off art is incidental and should be done, if at all, in a way that isn't favoring Christianity. I wouldn't have an issue with it if they were being neutral about it, but it's kind of difficult in the climate where people apparently still operate under the mistaken assumption that Christianity is being persecuted, when in fact, it's just being kept in the same boundaries you'd expect for any religion.

By all means show a portrait of Jesus, but let's go whole hog and show Gautama Buddha and Mohammed (just to be edgy, right?)

 

[Strathos]

I don't see the point of putting up pictures of an artist's ethnocentric interpretation of what they think Jesus looked like (which is probably completely wrong) all over the place anyway. Seems somewhat close to idolatry.

 

[grasping the after wind]

I don't buy that. The school resides in the US, so it's an American school. There's no reason it can't be flown to the exclusion of all other flags.

It is not, however, a Christian school.




Honor at home. School is for learning.

School is for indoctrinating. Always has been. Why do you think governments only require children to attend but not to learn? Learning happens without a teacher or a building or AV or computers or books provided by others. it is simply a human trait to learn and many schools end up quashing that trait by requiring students to be subjected to the dictates of a curriculum rather than encouraging learning they encourage compliance.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

It is probably one of those things that was hanging up in the school for a long time and nobody really thought twice about it until somebody actually noticed it and raised a stink.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Even as an Atheist, I think many other secular folks get a bit over-zealous on these sorts of things. And claiming that it's a constitutional violation is a big stretch at best.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

The school board isn't congress, and a picture in a hallway isn't a law...nor does it have anything to do with any form of a legislative process.

Even congress realizes this, which is why they're allowed to open with prayer when they go into a session...because it's not pertaining to the law making process.

The 1st amendment means exactly what it says, congress isn't allowed to make a law respecting an establishment of religion. The 14th amendment extends this policy to the state level, however, in this scenario, we're still not talking about a state legislative branch or lawmaking.

With how overzealous some secularists get, they'd have you believe that the city trash truck driver having a Jesus air freshener hanging from the mirror is a constitutional violation lol.

If it were a case where the Federal (prohibited by the 1st) or the State (prohibited by the 14th) were attempting to make an actual law or policy stating that the school HAD TO put up a picture, or a law stating that students HAD TO embrace Christian value in school, then I would be 100% in agreement that there was a constitutional violation taking place. However, that's not what happened, and people should't pretend that's what's happening.

 

[Blank Stair]

FFRF is registered as an educational organization with the IRS.

I'd hope a Christian civil rights group would get involved to stop this pursuit of Christian persecution. FFRF target only Christianity. They're anti-Christian. There has to be something that can be done to a tax exempt anti-Constitutional communist fascist organization violating the civil rights of one protected class of persons.

A Kansas middle school is at the center of a mushrooming controversy over the removal of a painting of Jesus from a public hallway.

According to the Wichita Eagle, the print of Warner Sallman’s “Head of Christ” has been hanging in the hall at Royster Middle School in Chanute for decades. However, after a national church and state separation group complained, school officials took the painting down last week.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/08/kan...-of-jesus-painting-from-public-middle-school/

 

[Poor Beggar]

How does a painting of Jesus Christ make it's way into a public school?

How is it that none of these educators saw this coming?

Personally, I feel things like this are often done on purpose so that when the evil, godless atheists come in and tell them what they're doing is unconstitutional they can all cry persecution and be a little more like the martyrs they wish they really were.

I do find this a bit more troubling than a picture of Jesus:

“Nobody else in the school seemed to be bothered by it,” said 22-year-old fur-trapper Cody Busby, a self-described “church kid” who attended Royster. “There were only one or two ‘evolution kids’ and they didn’t seem to be bothered by it.”
​

The fact that there were only "one or two evolution kids", which I assume he means people who accept the basic fact of evolution, in a public school and no one, not one teacher, student or administrator finds anything wrong with the promotion of one religion over all others, is far more troubling than the picture of Jesus. It shows a complete failure on the part of the school to provide a decent education.

It made it's way in there because there is no "Separation of Church and State". It's a fantasy. It doesn't exist. It was Jefferson's idea and it didn't take. What there IS, is the First Amendment, which prevents the state from coming in and limiting religious expression such as removing a picture that can be ignored by people who aren't of that faith.

 

[cow451]

Some people don't realize that all public schools had things like the Ten Commandments and daily bible readings at one time. Some places are just a little behind the rest of the country when it comes to these things. I still remember back in 1984, when the janitors took down all of the Ten Commandments plaques at my elementary school. There was also a bible that was still in the library, but it was in the storage part and not set out with the other books to check out.

My middle school had been a high school and so the library there was extremely interesting (while I was a student there at least). The types of books one could check out doesn't even compare to the public library (that is now the official school library of that same school). They got rid of all kinds of literature as well as controversial books. I remember checking out and reading Mein Kampf in the 8th grade. I don't even know of public school that would carry that book anymore. That same library only carries popular books like Harry Potter and Twilight now, and contains significantly fewer books than it ever did in the past.

I'm really old. My public schools had morning devotions, Bible classes (basically Sunday School lessons) and daily Christian prayer. I also went to a school named after a Confederate general. And look how well I turned out.