Thursday, October 11, 2012

Lone Atheist Removes Cross from Catholic Athletes

A football team comprised of a combination of Milwaukee students from a public and a Catholic high school have been stripped of their helmet logo because of the image of a tiny cross.  One parent complained that the logo is a violation of the U.S. Constitution, so even though the public school had previously approved the logo, the school board immediately reacted to the complaint and forced the Catholics to acquiesce.

For background, read Atheists Strip Catholic Univ. Cross from City Logo and also read Atheists Want WWI Memorial Cross Demolished in Rhode Island as well as Atheists Sue to Remove Cross from 9/11 Memorial

-- From "School president 'not happy' about crosses coming off Messmer-Shorewood football helmets" by Jay Sorgi, Newsradio WTMJ 620 (Milwaukee) 10/10/12

For 11 years, Messmer High School and Shorewood High School have partnered together on a combined football team.

A parent complained to Shorewood about a cross that's on the team's helmet.

It is part of a logo designed by a Shorewood High student and approved by Shorewood High.

After the complaint came in, the school board voted that the cross has to come off.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Messmer/Shorewood football team changes cross logo" by Erin Richards, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 10/10/12

Players routinely pray before games and many applaud the diversity of the team that blends mostly white, middle-class students in Shorewood with those from a school 14 blocks away serving more students of color, from more varied economic backgrounds.

Brother Bob Smith, president of Messmer Catholic Schools, said that while he'd like some image representative of his school's faith on the helmet, he understood there may not be a way to do that.

That fact that the design contained religious symbolism "did not occur to any of the involved parties as possibly problematic given the longstanding relationship with Messmer," said a communication to the Shorewood School Board prepared by new Superintendent Marty Lexmond.

The team will take on Living Word Lutheran on Friday night.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "School orders cross removed from football helmets" by FOX News, WTTG-TV5 (Washington, D.C.) 10/11/12

It's a case of classic liberal intolerance, said Paul Kengor, executive director of Grove City College's Center for Vision and Values.

"This is the kind of nutty hysteria that has become all too common in this country, and it's the direct result of a fundamental misunderstanding of ‘separation of church and state'," Kengor told Fox News. "It's fitting that this would happen here; that is, in a school. It's precisely in schools that this misunderstanding is bred."

Tom Pope teaches Constitutional Law at Lee University. He said the football logo did not put the school district on the edge of a Constitutional crisis.

"It is hard to argue that the logo with a cross on it advances religion in any substantive way," Pope told Fox News.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.