Picture Imperfect: Ohio School District Defies Request To Remove Portrait Of Jesus

[Adsos Letter]

Source:
Wall of Separation
Jan 9, 2013
by Simon Brown

A portrait of Jesus above the entrance to an Ohio public school doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation recently asked that the print be removed from Jackson Middle School in Jackson, Ohio, because it represents an unconstitutional government promotion of Christianity.

There really is no debate about the nature of the work in question. The portrait is a copy of Warner Sallman’s 1941 painting “Head of Christ,” a widely recognized piece of devotional art. (The official website for Sallman’s works says there were more than 500 million copies of it in existence as of 1994.)

But the Associated Press reported that District Superintendent Phil Howard told 300 people gathered for a school board meeting yesterday that he won’t be removing the picture because of its historical significance. It’s apparently been on display since 1947.
https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/picture-imperfect-ohio-school-district-defies-request-to-remove-portrait-of

I like the Sallman painting; it has a central place in the foyer of the church I have attended since I was a little kid, and there are some very good memories associated with it. I suppose this is one of those cases where people might say it's much ado about nothing. Still, it does come across as an endorsement of Christianity in a place which should be neutral ground.

EDITED to add the link...

[MotherPetrie]

1. I would be LIVID to walk into a public school and see that on display

It's a copy of a mass-produced illustration whose only significance is not historic, but religious.

Get it out of there.

[Adsos Letter]

4. Get it out of there.

They're workin' on it.

[mike_c]

2. ohio....

I was raised in the south, in an evangelical family that is so rabidly religious that they quit the Southern Baptist Church because it's too liberal and not "biblical enough." My mother presently lives with folks who spent decades in prison for beating a disruptive child to death, tied to the floor of a bus over a months long period because their god told them not to spare the rod. She met them running a prison ministry in central Virginia and has lived with them since their release. I know religious crazy.

But I'll tell you, the most enthralled christian lunatics I've ever met were in eastern Ohio. Youngstown, Columbiana, Boardman, East Liverpool, and yes, Steubenville-- places like that. It runs deep there.

[Adsos Letter]

6. I know a couple of people who have gone off the deep end in religion

but the ones who have negatively impacted my life most around here have been some True Believer theocrats.

[LiberalFighter]

3. Would they be willing to have pictures of the following?

Prophet Mohammad?


Jesus as a Jew?

Shiva?

[Adsos Letter]

5. You can bet they wouldn't. n/t

[MADem]

7. It's a darn PRINT. If it were the original, they might have an argument based on the fact that it

is a valuable "work of art."

Take it down. They want art history? They want a tradition? Put up a print of a Van Gogh or some other artist--heck, use the space to teach a little art appreciation to the poor kids, and swap out the pic quarterly. That's a tradition that would be of benefit to all.



Waaaaay too religious, IMO.

[Botany]

8. this is a place where it is not a good idea to pick a fight

1) no doubt Constitutionally the picture is wrong

b) 70%+ of the people in Jackson county see the Picture of Christ as "a good thing"

Lots of S.E. Ohio folk are rural, poor, and listen to their "Pastors" and if the ACLU and
or other progressive people push this issue we will lose these people for a generation.

Do you want these people to ever vote for a democrat again? Let them have their
Christ picture for now.

[Goblinmonger]

9. Just a thought

substitute black civil rights for the picture. Should the people fighting for black civil rights in Mississippi in the 50s and 60s stopped because those people were back-ass racists fucks? We lost a lot of those people to the democrat side?

This picture is fucking wrong. And if these bastards can't see it, that's not a reason to just keep it up. Keeping it up fuels the theocracy machine. Fuck that.

[cbayer]

10. Additional information from the superintendent of schools:

He believes the Jesus portrait is permissible under the Establishment Clause because it originated as a gift from a student group, and because it’s one of many images in a larger collection featuring illustrious alumni and other famous people.

Also note that the ACLU has become engaged and sent a letter.

[brooklynite]

12. Jesus went to school in Ohio?

Well, I guess that makes sense, considering the Garden of Eden was in Missouri...

[brooklynite]

11. Draw a handle-bar mustache on the picture...

...when the School Authorities complain, point out 1) that you're exercising YOUR religoius right to display Jesus as YOUR beliefs describe him, and 2) if anyone is offended by your religious expression, perhaps they should be thinking about whether their religious expression offends anyone else.

(fwiw, this will clearly be going to Court, where it all but certainly will be ordered removed)