Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: School board fights for painting of Jesus Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 16:10:35 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \SS (WS) \HD School board fights for painting of Jesus \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT BLOOMINGDALE, Mich. BLOOMINGDALE, Mich. (AP) - The school board in this farming community decided to fight a lawsuit filed by a student and his mother who object to a painting of Jesus that's been hanging in the high school for at least 30 years. The board decided to take the stance - and the offer of free legal defense - after a public hearing in which community members gave strong support to keeping the painting right where it is in the Bloomingdale High School hallway. "The board feels that it and the residents have the right to place in their school things that they hold of value," board President James Dickerson said after the hearing Monday. The district northwest of Kalamazoo is home to about 2,800 people. "This is their school to also have freedom to put something up there that they want," Mr. Dickerson said. "As long as it is something that is positive and valued and important." Eric Pensinger, a 17-year-old senior, and his mother, Dott Washegesic, asked the painting be removed in their lawsuit filed Oct. 29 in U.S. District Court in Kalamazoo. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing them. The lawsuit claims that displaying a painting of Jesus amounts to a school endorsement of Christianity, thus violating the requirement that the government not get involved in religion. Mr. Pensinger has said he first objected to the painting several months ago, taking offense at what he alleged was the school's effort to influence his religious beliefs by displaying the painting. Neither Mr. Pensinger nor his mother have ever disclosed their religious beliefs, if any. There are no telephone listings for them, and their ACLU attorney was not immediately available yesterday. Howard Simon, executive director of the Michigan ACLU, said yesterday that the student and his mother filed the lawsuit after asking the school to remove the painting. Once the school district's response is filed, a date for a court hearing will be set, possibly in December, Mr. Simon said. After the hearing Monday, the school board voted 6-0 to accept the free services of David Melton, a lawyer from the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit group based in Charlottesville that defends schools facing government-religion lawsuits. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM