Atheist groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation just cannot keep their noses out of other people’s business. It doesn’t matter if school administrators, parents, and students are fine with students praying before football games the Christian flag gracing the school flagpole. FFRF makes it their business.
In their latest crusade against the free exercise of religion, they targeted an East Texas high school that chose to fly the Christian flag alongside the Texas and American flags.
The Christian Post reports that FFRF sent a letter to Superintendent James Young of LaPoynor Independent School District on Oct. 11 demanding that they take down the Christian flag, arguing that it constituted a school endorsement of religion.
The school told a local radio station that they are in the “process of reviewing the concerns addressed in the correspondence and will take any action deemed necessary.”
FFRF attorney Sam Grover argues in his letter that “a majority of federal courts has held displays of Latin crosses by government entities to be unconstitutional.”
“As the Supreme Court explained, ‘school sponsorship of a religious message is impermissible because it sends the ancillary message to members of the audience who are non adherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community,'” Grover continues.
Well, the community in Texas was not having this unnecessary intrusion on their way of life.
When news of the FFRF demands broke, three students parked in front of the school with fresh Christian flags affixed to the back of their pickup trucks. One of the students said he had to drill a hole on his tailgate in order to be able to fly his flag, but he clearly deemed it worth it to display his faith and support for his school.
“So you didn’t like the one flag we had flying, how about three more,” community member Danielle Reichert-Davis wrote on Facebook. “We have a great group of kids I tell you what.”
“This is our way of life for me and everybody around here,” high school junior Gunner Gracey told local radion station KETK, while junior Jared Sanchez told local NBC affiliate that if FFRF is determined to get the Christian flag removed, “we’re going to fight for it.”
Holley Franklin, a LaPoynor High School parent who attended school at LaPoynor from kindergarten through 12th grade, said that “Jesus has always been alive and well here.”
“If God is challenged, He is up for the challenge and God is going to win,” said another parent.
It is so moving to see such a strong Christian community that won’t roll over and die in the face of persecution of their faith. The First Amendment clearly allows for the free expression of religion and this high school is doing nothing wrong.
The FFRF needs to learn to mind their own darn business because no one wants them here!
