O'DONNELL, Texas — A battle over an issue concerning the separation of church and state is brewing inside of a high school in Texas.
A newly added common area of O'Donnell High School contains a painting of the Ten Commandments and some Bible verses.
When students arrived Thursday morning for classes, they found the painting covered by an American flag.
A letters was sent Wednesday night to the district's superintendent, Cathy Amonett, by the group Freedom From Religion Foundation. Inside the letter was an anonymous complaint about the painting so, to avoid a lawsuit, Amonett ordered that it be covered up.
"I made the decision to cover it up until I made a more informed decision about what I should do, because I don't want to harm the district or cause any controversy or anything," Amonett told KCBD-TV.
Word of the letter quickly spread through the school community.%
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"It's one of the big things that O'Donnell is known for, is keeping their faith strong no matter what. So we just decided that we were going to make it known, that we wanted this as a big deal," student Abby Franklin told KCBD-TV.
Now, students are taking matters into their own hands and have started a movement to have the Ten Commandments put back on display.
"Students have put verses on sticky notes, just around the hallways and stuff. So two verses and commandments they've been complaining about turned into 70 verses," junior Sebastian Pedroza said.
Despite the students’ efforts, the flag remains over the painting until the district figures out who complained about the artwork and is able to address those concerns.
"The next step is I'm going to do some more investigation, and get with the school leadership and the community and the students, and we will decide what we need to do to protect the school, while also honoring it," Amonett said. "I'm proud of my kids. I think that they have shown the kind of people that they are. They believe in the Ten Commandments and they want to stand up for it, and I'm proud of them for that."
The Freedom From Religion Foundation said in a statement:
"FFRF takes in thousands of complaints each year from people reporting religious promotion by the government in their local communities. That's how we learned of the Ten Commandments and bible verse display in this case. We sent a letter to educate the school district on why this display violates the law and to invite them to voluntarily correct the problem. At this point, we hope that the superintendent will do the right thing and remove the religious display, which violates the separation of church and state and also the right of conscience of each student at the school. If the school district chooses to keep the display, it is exposing itself to a potential lawsuit that could cost the school district and taxpayers dearly."
U.S. Sen. Charles Perry, R-Texas, issued a statement Friday saying:
"For years the "Freedom from Religion Foundation" has fought to intimidate Christians into eliminating all public displays of faith from our society.
"Last year they unsuccessfully targeted the Kountze Cheerleaders and the Childress Police Department. Today, they are threatening O'Donnell High School with a lawsuit over their display of the Ten Commandments.
"I am proud of the hundreds of students at O'Donnell that are standing up for their faith and starting a movement to save the Ten Commandments at their school. Our office is working to ensure the school is in touch with the necessary experts to explain their rights and determine a plan of action."