Ohio town latest focus of religion legal debate

http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Ohio-town-latest-focus-of-religion-legal-debate-4275065.php

By DAN SEWELL, Associated Press | February 13, 2013 | Updated: February 13, 2013 2:53pm


Attendees recite the "Pledge of Allegiance" before the start of a Jackson City Schools board meeting where the board was to decide on whether to fight a federal lawsuit contending that a portrait of Jesus hanging in the school building where it's been for 65 years unconstitutionally promotes religion in a public school, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, in Jackson, Ohio. The board voted 4-0 to keep the painting, saying it is protecting students' free speech rights. Photo: The Columbus Dispatch, Doral Chenoweth

JACKSON, Ohio (AP) — Since just after World War II, a portrait of Jesus has hung in a Jackson City Schools building, attracting little discussion and no controversy that anyone seems to recall.

But that changed recently after a complaint, and this small city in mostly rural Appalachian Ohio has now found itself as the latest battleground in a national debate over what displays of religion are constitutional.

Facing a federal lawsuit charging that the middle school portrait illegally promotes religion in a public school, school officials dug in their heels Tuesday night at a board meeting. They declared that the portrait belongs to the Christian-based student club that presented it in 1947 and is part of a "limited public forum" in which other student groups can hang portraits of "inspirational figures central to the club's meaning and purpose." Taking it down would censor students' private speech, it said.

"It's a delicate balance for us as a district," Superintendent Phil Howard said, adding that he thought the board's action protected students' rights while making clear it wasn't endorsing a religion.

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