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.
A concerned Mobile County Public Schools community member informed the state/church watchdog that Theodore High School displayed a bible verse on the dugout of its baseball field: “Whatever you do, do it for the Glory of GOD. I Corinthians 10:31.”
“To protect students’ First Amendment rights, the district must remove this religious display from its baseball field immediately, as well as any other religious displays it becomes aware of in its schools,” FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line advised the district’s legal representative.
The district violated the Constitution by allowing the school to prominently display a divisive biblical edict on its property. 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. As much as 37 percent of the American population is non-Christian, including the almost 30 percent who are nonreligious. Additionally, at least a third of Generation Z have no religion, with a recent survey revealing almost half of Gen Z qualify as religiously unaffiliated “Nones.” The religious display needlessly alienated these students and their families.
FFRF urged the district to act in the best interest of the First Amendment. In response, the district’s legal counsel promptly responded, “The bible verse has been painted over.”
“Public schools exist to educate, not indoctrinate into religion,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The district made the correct decision to respect the rights of all students— not just Christians.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 40,000 members across the country, including hundreds of members in Alabama. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
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To become an FFRF member, click here. To learn more about FFRF, request information here.
