A Kentucky high school removed a Bible verse from a locker room wall after complaints from an atheist group, but the erasure of religious messages didn’t stop there.
Letcher County Public Schools took down multiple religious displays from schools in the system after a resident said the district was “endorsing religious messages.” The Freedom From Religion Foundation also got involved and sent two complaints to the district, prompting the removal of religious displays.
“In recognition of the District’s constitutional obligation to remain neutral toward religion, please remove all religious displays from the District immediately,” FFRF said in its second letter to Letcher County Public Schools Superintendent Denise Yonts.
The atheist group claimed in a letter to the school system that such displays violate the Constitution.
One of the religious displays in question was a Bible verse on a locker room wall that read, “But the Lord is with me like a Mighty Warrior. Jeremiah 20:11.” Another quote on the district’s middle school wall — “Jesus is my savior. You can’t scare me!” — was also removed. A Facebook post from the elementary school featuring a prayer was also taken down.
“The bulletin board has been replaced, the Facebook post has been removed, and the locker room has been repainted,” Yonts said in response to the complaints.
“After receiving complaints from FFRF, I consulted with the board attorney for advice, and we followed the law regarding religious displays,” she continued. “Only displays that in our opinion did not comply with the law were removed.”
A religious freedom law firm, First Liberty Institute, said the district acted too soon in removing the displays.
“It is unfortunate that the school took such a drastic step before fully vetting the complaint and doing a proper investigation of the background facts,” Hiram Sasser, general counsel for First Liberty, said.
FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor applauded the removals, saying in a statement that “students in our public schools are free to practice any religion they choose — or none at all.”
