A Florida public middle school in Panama City, Fla., has removed a prominent “God is Love” banner from its gym after the Freedom From Religion Foundation intervened on behalf of a concerned parent.
For roughly three years, the large religious banner hung inside the gym at Mowat Middle School in Lynn Haven, part of Bay District Schools. The banner incorporated the school’s official “M,” its Mustang identity and school colors, making the religious proclamation appear to be an official message of the school. Mowat identifies its students as “Mustangs,” and district materials confirm its traditional school colors include navy and yellow.
A parent who contacted FFRF said they first noticed the banner in August 2023 and had been troubled by it ever since.
“It has bothered me for three years,” the parent told FFRF. “The official M and the Mustangs logo make it feel like the school is endorsing one religion over others. It just hit me that my kids see this religious propaganda every single time they enter that gym. It’s impossible to miss.”
FFRF contacted the district and asked it to remove the banner, which clearly violates the principle of separation between religion and government.
“As the district is aware, public schools may not constitutionally show favoritism toward or coerce belief or participation in religion,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to Superintendent Mark McQueen.
Mowat Middle School was undeniably signaling clear favoritism toward religion over nonreligion. There was no other reasonable way to interpret this banner other than an official school-sponsored religious pronouncement that a god is real and that “God is Love.” The school was also coercing students to read and reflect upon an overtly religious message every single time they enter their school’s gym.
Thirty-four percent of Floridians are non-Christian, including 27 percent who are atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.”
Fortunately, FFRF has recently received welcome news directly from the parent: The banner is gone.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for your help,” the parent wrote to FFRF after confirming its removal. The parent sent FFRF a new photo of the gym showing the large space on the wall where the banner once hung, adding: “That big blank spot on the wall feels so right.”
FFRF welcomes the school’s response, which shows respect for the Constitution and for families by leaving decisions about what to believe where it belongs: with students and their families.
“Students should never have to walk into their public school and be confronted with a declaration about what they are supposed to believe,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We’re delighted that this inappropriate religious display has been removed.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With more than 41,000 members and several chapters across the country, including nearly 2,000 members and a chapter in Florida, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
