Wisconsin

Midlothian Residents Protest Religious Plaque Removal

Dozens of people gathered Thursday near the Midlothian Independent School District Administration building to rally in support of plaques on Mountain Peak and Longbranch elementary schools.

The plaques were part of the buildings' dedications 17 years ago in 1997, however, religious wording has caught the attention of the Madison, Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation.

In June, the foundation sent Midlothian ISD a letter informing them a complaint was made with FFRF about the plaque on Mountain Peak Elementary. The organization requested the school take it down, citing what foundation attorney Sam Grover said is a violation of the Constitution – more specifically, of the separation of church and state.

Midlothian ISD Attorney John Hardy responded. In his letter, he states the plaque will be removed from Mountain Peak Elementary. The district said both plaques were subsequently covered, but this week someone removed the covering.

On Thursday, Midlothian ISD Superintendent Dr. Jerome Stewart announced the plaques would remain uncovered while the district seeks legal advice from outside counsel. While the district isn't elaborating, NBC 5 has learned the Liberty Institute in Plano has looked into the case. The institute has not been retained as counsel for the district but said in a statement:

"Liberty Institute applauds Midlothian ISD Superintendent Jerome Stewart for allowing the religious plaques to remain uncovered on school campuses."

The Liberty Institute statement continued with a quote from its litigation director, Hiram Sasser:

"Our preliminary investigation of the Midlothian plaque issue leads us to believe the school district created a limited public forum for plaques relating to the topic of the building dedication. The plaque at issue is thus private speech and the First Amendment prohibits the government from censoring private speech simply because of its religious viewpoint."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation does not see it that way. Staff Attorney Sam Grover said it's a clear violation of the Constitution.

"The establishment cause of the First Amendment stands for the principle that the state must remain separate from church, from religion," Grover said. "Midlothian Independent School District is a public school district, so it represents the state, and therefore it can't take a position on religion. It can't endorse one religion over another, and that's what these plaques do."

The plaques include a Latin phrase meaning "glory to God alone" as well as two crosses. There is also a mention of the Holy Christian Church.

After 17 years, many people at Thursday's rally were asking, "Why now?"

"As with many of the letters we write, it takes a local complainant who's disturbed enough by the violation to write to us before any action gets taken," Grover said. "What often happens in aggressively religious communities like this one is that a violation can go on for many years, sometimes decades, before anyone who's not in the majority faith finally gets up the nerve to contact us."

People at Thursday's rally would agree with one point: it is a religious community. Lisa Huski said her daughter carries a Bible to class, and her family is proud of their faith.

"No, it's not about a plaque. It's about God being in our children's schools. It's about us standing up for the fact that God's in our school," Huski said. "If the plaque is there or not there it's kind of not the issue. The issue was and is and will continue to be that God is in our schools and that we support our district in keeping it that way."

Tammy Wimbush agreed.

"Everyone has different beliefs, different issues," Wimbush said. "It's just a dedication of the building to pray over all the children, and that's all it was, something simple. And there's so many times we're told to look away if we don't like it. So this time we're feeling like if you don't like it, look away. It;s our turn to say that's how we believe."

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