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The civil liberties groups that sued the Harrison County School Board because of the portrait of Jesus hanging in Bridgeport High School, say they are "very concerned" over its replacement.
Story by Sarah Kapis
Thursday, the Harrison County school board decided not to fight the lawsuit involving the Jesus painting at Bridgeport High School. The painting was stolen several weeks ago, so there's no reason to legally fight over something that's no longer there.
But 12 News has learned that lawsuit may not be over just yet. The reason, students donated a mirror with a religious inscription on it to the principal on Friday. New principal Mark DeFazio accepted the mirror, and hung it in the empty space in the hallway where the Jesus portrait once hung.
The mirror has this message on the bottom of it: "To know the will of God is the highest of all wisdom. The love of Jesus Christ lives within each of us."
"It's clearly a promotion of a particular religion, just as the Jesus portrait was," says Barry Lynn with the Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Another plaintiff on the suit against the school board, the ACLU, also has concern over the newest addition.
"This clearly runs afoul of the proposed agreement and therefore would not be able to drop this lawsuit," says ACLU spokesman Andrew Schneider.
Supporters of this message says it shouldn't be offensive to the public. Students from the Christian Freedom Alliance Group made the donation.
"We wanted to do something to fill that empty space so we decided that a mirror would be wonderful," says Kathy Currey at the donation ceremony. "That shouldn't be offensive to anyone that everyone has their own God that lives inside them."
"I don't think it'll ever fill the void of what used to be there," says school board member Mike Queen. "But I do think it's a pretty strong message from the students."
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