Posted on 07/11/2005 11:13:58 AM PDT by Terriergal
School bench message said too religious
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Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer
MARIETTA - A simple message greets students arriving at Marietta High School - Jesus Loves You!
The words are inscribed on a bench located outside of the school's cafeteria and near the spot where school buses drop off and pick up students. Private donations from the school's PTA paid for the bench as part of a larger fund-raising campaign more than four years ago at the school, located on Dallas Highway just west of downtown Marietta.
While school officials say the bench has been in its current location for several years, one Marietta parent is now raising questions about the "overly religious" message it conveys.
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David Bernknopf - a former CNN producer and media consultant whose son and daughter attend nearby A.L. Burruss Elementary - said he recently noticed the bench and asked Marietta City Schools officials to look into the legality of having a religious message displayed at a public school.
"I saw it, I questioned it and I asked them what their stance was on it," he said.
The controversy comes just a week after the U.S. Supreme Court issued two divergent rulings relating to displays of the Ten Commandments at courthouses in Kentucky and Texas.
No lawsuit is planned at this point, Bernknopf said, and he has "no issue so far" with the bench. But he said his stance on the bench will depend on the legal opinion provided by the school system about the bench's presence at the school.
"I think its best at this point to give them to opportunity to figure out where they stand," Bernknopf said.
Marietta Superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck said her office now is in the process of investigating who specifically donated the money to install the bench, how long it has been at the school and whether the message inscribed on the bench complies with the law. Attorney Clem Doyle represents the Marietta School Board.
So far, Dr. Lembeck, who officially assumed her post July 1, said her investigation shows the bench was first funded as part of a Marietta High School PTA fund-raising event in 2000 or 2001 and has been at the school since the new campus opened in August 2001 under then-principal Gordon Pritz. Who specifically commissioned the bench as part of the fund-raising drive remains uncertain, Dr. Lembeck said.
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"That bench has been there for years," she said.
Two years ago, the Marietta school board approved a policy governing the names of individuals placed on benches, rooms or in others locations in local schools in exchange for a private donation. The district, however, has no policy regarding the types of messages that private groups can display in exchange for a donation, Dr. Lembeck said.
"This really has never come up before," she said. "It boils down to what the law tells us, and until we see what the law tells us and we get all that together, we can't take a position."
Asked about the issue on Tuesday, Marietta school board members said they were unaware that the bench with its "Jesus Loves You!" message even existed at the school until Bernknopf questioned it.
But if the situation came down to using school system funds to defend the bench in court, many board members said preserving the bench would not be their top priority.
"I don't want to take away from our main core purpose, which is educating our children," board chairwoman Irene Berens said. "We have tried not to focus on those things as an issue in our schools because we want to focus on the education of our children."
"I'm a Southern Baptist from way back and I believe that Jesus loves me, but I also believe that my job is to educate students," she said. "I hate for this issue to take away from what we need to be focusing on. There's a time and a place for everything."
School board member Tom Smith agreed, saying that he would not want to use money earmarked for education to fund a lawsuit to protect a religiously-themed bench at the high school.
"My biggest fear is that this is going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal cost that otherwise might go to education," he said.
But Smith also said he worries about the possible First Amendment debate on the other side of the issue and whether the group that originally donated the bench could claim that their rights to free speech and religious expression are being infringed upon.
"The government cannot encourage religious expression, but it can't prevent it either," Smith said.
The neighboring Cobb County School District currently is embroiled in its own legal battle over the separation of church and state. The district is now appealing a federal court ruling requiring Cobb to remove stickers related to evolution placed inside district science books in 2002. The sticker reads that evolution is "a theory and not a fact," and opponents argued that the disclaimer was religiously motivated.
Like her district's board members, Dr. Lembeck said her primary goal would remain the education of Marietta children rather than defending the bench and its message.
"What we don't want is any kind of controversy that will take our attention away from kids," she said. "That's our primary obligation."
dburch@mdjonline.com
That would probably have been fine with everyone. *sigh*
I see no reason to bow to his religious points of view and certainly see no reason for the state to enforce them.
ping!
So when are those government buildings with all the religous messages in the architecture going to be condemned?
If the people want religious endorsement, for some reason, then the 'government of the people, by the people, for the people' doesn't seem to matter.
I thought the First Amendment did away with these control freaks when it came to religion, but apparantly it didn't.
Some people have too much time on their hands. *sigh*
Asked about the issue on Tuesday, Marietta school board members said they were unaware that the bench with its "Jesus Loves You!" message even existed at the school until Bernknopf questioned it.
This part I did think was pretty funny. The bench is out in front of the school and the school board members never noticed it before??
This guy is an idiot!
It's pronounced "hey-zeus" not "gee-zuss"
There, no problemo!
Just reaching out to the Latin-American population in Texas!
R3
The polically correct are creating a religious underground.
I'll bet if it said "Allah" or "Satan" loves you, this woman never would have said word.
I hope the local community shuns this busy body - big time! She's earned it.
No surprise here that a former producer for CNN would be offended by the notion that "Jesus loves you." How inoffensive is that statement? And since the sign is paid for by private funds, there's a question here of whether individuals' freedom to speak violates some doofus's "freedom not to be offended."
I consider myself a Christian woman, but think that bench as described in the article has no business at the entrance to the school. It is very different if a student has a visible locker with a religious bumper sticker, or a security guard has something personal and religious at his desk by the door.
That school is a PUBLIC school, NOT a religious school, and certainly many people who don't believe in Jesus will pass through. It certainly sounds like it is being made to look like it was placed there by some official act.
I don't think this is at all like including timely religious songs in a seasonal school concert. I have no problem with that. But this bench is an "in your face" religious demonstration by a group trying to circumvent the constitution's intent. I for one don't want to see "Jesus loves you", "Allah loves you", "Moses loves you" or "Confucious loves you" in an official looking place in my kids' PUBLIC schools.
"But he said his stance on the bench will depend on the legal opinion provided by the school system"
He doesn't even have an opinion yet..
"I think its best at this point to give them to opportunity to figure out where they stand," Bernknopf said.
Because as soon as they do, then he'll know where he stands..
The left wing communist groups are giving it their best try. They want Government to be God - and they'll do by force if necessary. It's their anti-Christ jihad (sound familiar?).
The don't have to obey our laws. Our laws are just for the unwashed, tax enslaved peasants.
Here's my crazy idea about how not to be offended by the Jesus Loves You bench- don't look at the bench.
I know..I know, it's revolutionary, but that's the kind of gal I am.
Since when is telling someone JESUS LOVES YOU offensive? What is wrong nowadays with uplifting someone by letting them know that there is a God who loves them? With all that's going on in the world today, a bit of good cheer never hurt anyone.
"But he said his stance on the bench will depend on the legal opinion provided by the school system about the bench's presence at the school."
Hmm. Isn't that interesting. This producer can't yet indicate if he thinks it is ok or not ok? He needs someone to look at the law so he can discern whether there is something gruesomely offensive about a bench with the saying, "Jesus loves you" on it?
Well, he was a CNN producer. Brains and intellect don't seem to be a job requirement there.
I'm not at all surprised MHS has a "Jesus Loves You!" bench on their campus. When I was there there were Jesus posters and stickers and flyers all over the place. The student body at MHS was/is overwhelmingly Christian from degrees ranging from very religious to those who go along with all the Christian activities just to be social. When I was there, there was a lot of peer pressure to join in specifically Christian extracurricular groups such as FCA and Young Life. Young Life in particular attracted a lot of kids who were more interested in having a place to hook up before going out to get drunk. People who didn't take part or at least pretend to take part in all of this were actually teased and said to be weird. I was an agnostic bordering on atheist in high school (no more - long story) and so I was pretty much one of those outcasts. I didn't care though - in fact, I took it as a kind of badge of honor. I never really resented it because it wasn't a position the school itself took. Teachers and admins there were quite even-handed. All the pressure came from the kids themselves.
I can't help but think it's funny that some liberal is now challenging the school's status quo. That's definitely a new experience for MHS. Sounds like the school board is going to handle it in a reasonable fashion, but the God Squad contingency is not going to be happy if that bench is removed or even moved from its place at the front.
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