Christian Flag In Schools Case Study

Words: 585
Pages: 3

Unicoi County school board in Tennessee will keep the Christian Flag in their office in spite of complaints filed by Freedom From Religion Foundation which cited violation of US Constitution in putting up a religious symbol at a public place.

FFRF sent a letter to the Director of Schools, saying that the board had kept up the flag since 2014.

"It is unconstitutional for a public school board to display a flag with a patently religious symbol and meaning at its meetings. You must take immediate action and refrain from further display of this flag at school board meetings," the letter states.

However, Tyler Engle, Board of Education Chairman, said they had no plans to take down the flag and that they are not sure how long it had been there.
…show more content…
"The Christian flag being displayed during public school board meetings unabashedly creates the perception of government endorsement of Christianity," said the letter written by FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert.

"The display of this Christian flag is a brazen affront to the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. Courts have continually held that school districts may not display religious messages of iconography in public schools. A majority of federal courts have held displays of Latin crosses on public property to be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion," she wrote.

The FFRF elaborated the description of the flag on its website: "The Christian flag, designed by Protestants in the early 20th century, features a Latin cross, and each of the flag's three colors represent a different aspect of Christianity: blue refers to the baptism in water, white represents biblical conceptions of purity and red signifies the crucifixion of Jesus