CV NEWS FEED // An organization that advocates for atheism and the separation of church and state recently took credit for the removal of a Bible verse painted on a dugout at an Alabama high school baseball field.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) announced in a news release on January 30 that “The Mobile County Public School district has painted over a divisive religious display on Theodore High School’s baseball dugout after the Freedom From Religion Foundation cautioned it about the constitutional violation.”
The “divisive religious display” in question was a painted Bible verse that read “Whatever you do, do it for the Glory of GOD. 1 Corinthians 10:31.”
FFRF argued that the Bible verse violated students’ First Amendment rights and demanded for its immediate removal.
“The display violated the First Amendment by proselytizing school students and creating the appearance that the district prefers religion over nonreligion and Christianity over all other faiths,” FFRF stated in Tuesday’s press release.
“Public schools exist to educate, not indoctrinate into religion,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said. “The district made the correct decision to respect the rights of all students— not just Christians.”
Local news source AL.com reported that though the Mobile County School System painted over the verse, School Board Commissioner Johnny Hatcher “would have left the painting alone.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” he told AL.com. “I think all of the children wanted it there, To me, it’s petty that someone would want to take that down.”
“I’m of the opinion we need more religion in schools than taking it out, especially after yesterday,” he added, referring to a school shooting in a nearby high school on January 30.
