Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 2, 1995 TAG: 9505020112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The justices, acting without comment, refused to hear arguments by Bloomingdale, Mich., school officials that the portrait should be returned to a hallway wall because it offers no religious message and raises no church-state problem.
``It's absolutely absurd that a long-standing, landmark portrait depicting a famous teacher and a famous historical figure cannot be placed in a school system,'' lamented Thomas Hoke, Bloomingdale school superintendent.
But Paul Denenfeld of the Michigan American Civil Liberties Union said, ``Religious symbols that have nothing to do with studies, but rather simply endorse a particular faith, have no place in public schools that are attended by people of all faiths.''
Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said, ``As a minister, I am appalled that ... defenders of the picture of Jesus tried to claim that it is merely the portrait of a historical figure. To treat it as just another historical painting demeans its religious character.''
The 2-by-3-foot portrait, a print of Warner Sallman's famous "Head of Christ," had been donated to the high school in the 1960s. It hung without controversy until Eric Pensinger, who graduated in 1993, sued during his senior year.
His lawsuit said the portrait's presence suggested that his school endorsed Christianity and that school officials considered something wrong with him for not being a Christian.
In other matters Monday, the court:
Refused to reinstate a $1.2 million award won, and then lost, by two Columbia, Mo., residents who say police did not adequately protect their family from domestic violence.
Will decide whether states may promote sobriety by banning price advertising for liquor. The court said it will review a free-speech challenge to Rhode Island's price-advertising ban, enforced since 1956 as an attempt to reduce consumption of alcoholic beverages.
by CNB