A disputed portrait of Jesus Christ will remain at the Slidell city courthouse in Louisiana after a federal judge refused to grant a demand by the American Civil Liberties Union to have the painting removed.
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(Photo: AP Images / Judi Bottoni)Inside the Slidell City Court House in Slidell La. a suburb of New Orleans portraits of more than a dozen historic figures have been added to a courthouse display of Jesus, far right, that ran afoul of civil libertarians Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007.
“The court today recognized that the First Amendment allows public officials, and not the ACLU, to determine what is appropriate for acknowledging our nation’s legal and cultural heritage,” said Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel for the Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund, in a statement Friday.
“The ACLU’s sole and stated objective in this case was to have the Jesus painting removed. But the Constitution does not prohibit public buildings from memorializing great figures from our history.”
The Jesus portrait, which had been on display in the courthouse for more than a decade, had spurred the ACLU to file a lawsuit claiming that the display violated the separation of church and state.
In response, the city of Slidell mounted additional portraits of 15 of history’s preeminent lawgivers alongside the Jesus painting. The framed portraits added on Aug. 31 included those of Confucius, Hammurabi, Moses, Charlemagne, and Sir William Blackstone. Alongside the 16 framed portraits are a reproduction of the U.S. Constitution and a mounted explanation of the various figures in the paintings.
However the added prints did not appease the ACLU, which refused to drop the case.
“It’s sad that we’ve reached a point where such images have to be defended,” ADF’s Johnson said. “The ruling today is believed to be the first-ever federal court decision to specifically review and uphold as constitutional an image of an adult Jesus on public display.
“While such images and other religious symbols are common in public buildings throughout the U.S., none have been challenged in this manner before,” he added.
Judge Ivan Lemelle on Friday ruled against the ACLU and said the only remaining issue to be discussed is attorneys’ fees.
ADF has many times defended communities in South Louisiana against ACLU lawsuits, including after Hurricane Katrina when the ACLU sued to block a privately funded memorial to storm victims because it included a cross.
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Ok, nevermind, I am not sorry now that I read that last paragraph.
Yea, sorry about that, it is just that nothing gets me fuming like the ACLU quibbling over getting a religious portrait removed from government property. It is just pathetic. And I do not see who they were protecting here, jimhinco.
ACLU= Atheistic Corporation of Loathing Usurpers :D I do not get the ACLU, they target these tiny things while there are people suffering. My God they suck. They whine and howl at the tiniest of things and then they go and claim that they are for the good of the country. PAH! They are bent on wreaking havoc, and I bet that if it wouldn't politically ruin them they would claim that religion itself is bad for the country and should be illegalized. They are a disgrace to this country.
I`m sure the eternity old quote " The road straight to hell was paved with sincere intent" came from some wise elders of many generations past so maybe the same mistakes that were made upon quote inseption would`nt be repeated in generations to come....?
John 14:15
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.
----- Jesus Christ
John 15:18
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
----- Jesus Christ
John 15:23
He who hates Me hates My Father also.
----- Jesus Christ
John 15:25
But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ ----- Jesus Christ
ACLU- Anti Christian Litigation Union
Whose Civil Liberties was the ACLU protecting in this case?
Yet the ACLU came to the defense of a girl who wanted to wear a cross necklace to show she was a Christian...where were all the christian pharisees then?
The goal of the ACLU is to ensure that civil liberties are always protected. It's really very simple. If christians keep dictating the law rather than love, they must live under the law, just as the pharisees did. You either have faith in love, or you have nothing.
A.C.L.U. = Anti Christian Lawless Union
Does anyone realize that the story of "Savior, Christ" for the past 5,000 some odd years has withstood every critic, investigation, attack, study possibly known across the globe, from one end to the other? A couple years ago, I personally undertoke studying of the famous story, just to try to get the "story" off the page of black and white and into a more three dimensional product, and ya know what? it absolutely happened....
after reading such books as "A case for Christ" by Lee Strobel,.."Jesus, the great debate" by Grant R. Jeffrey,..."God, the evidence",..by Patrick Glynn,...."When Skeptics ask" by Geisler Brooks,...How can an intelligent human being disagree with all this?
I think the problem is the original product is the same as a zerox copy so lost and faded a ton of folks mis-interpet the original message including me, but the study of all this was a part-time job but I can`t tell another person in words how glad I am that I did it....
ACLU has the view of an antichrist!
If ACLU is going to dictate everything to do with God and religion, whether it is in schools or
court house; then we are in serious trouble. The ACLU is created to create problem everywhere and they are doing everything to tarnish God and irriate the believers. They simply forget what kind of blessings that the Almight God has bestowed upon this great country; the most ungrateful bunch of people.
What is the ACLU to start with? what is the origin of this organization? why is it,..(not sure) that almost every time a major issue comes up this organization, ACLU is on the raising of hackle feathers side of the issue and tends to lean towards the opposite side the "moral majority" tends to disagree with,.....Lack of understanding on my part obviously......