Atheist groups fight religious statue at Georgia high school football field

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/national/atheist-groups-fight-religious-statue-georgia-high-school-football-field-article-1.1956397

Atheist groups fight religious statue at Georgia high school football field

The Madison County Journal

Two atheist groups are asking for a statue with religious messages to be removed from the football field at a Georgia school.

Football is religion in the Deep South, but one Georgia school district is accused of taking it to the extreme.

Madison County High School near Athens, Ga. is drawing biblical ire from two atheist groups after the district installed a granite monument inscribed with religious messages at a new football field.

The Freedom From Religious Foundation and the American Humanist Association have asked Madison County school officials to remove the two-ton sculpture based on the constitutional call for a separation between church and state.

The Madison County Journal

The monument, a gift from a donor, was placed between the field house and the football field at Madison County High School near Athens in August 

"This letter serves as an official notice of the unconstitutional activity and demands that the school district remove the monument immediately or at a minimum, remove the religious references from the monument," the American Humanist Association's legal center wrote in a letter sent Thursday.

The monument, a gift from a donor, was placed between the field house and the football field in August and has already become part of the team's game day ritual.

WXIA-TV

The Freedom From Religious Foundation and the American Humanist Association have asked Madison County school officials to remove the two-ton sculpture based on the constitutional call for a separation between church and state.

The monument cites the Bible’s Romans 8:31: "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

It also quotes Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things. Strengthen me."

Appignani Humanist Legal Center

The Appignani Humanist Legal Center protests a statue placed in the Madison County High School that was "percieved as a constitutuional violation" titled the "Red Raider".

But the statue has already made a positive impression. Players touch the statue as they enter the field before games.

"They think it gives them good luck," Morris Stevens, who has two sons on the football team, told WXIA. "I say we live in a free nation and let's exercise our freedoms and beliefs."

The Red Raiders' football team is off to a 3-1 start.

"We have discussed the situation with our attorneys and are in the process of responding to the entities and forming a plan to deal with the situation," school Superintendent Allen McCannon told Madison Journal Today.

WXIA-TV

A statue bearing quotes from the Bible was placed on the Madison County High School"s football field. Two non-profits now argue over the constitutionality of placing religious artifacts in public schools and public areas.

jmolinet@nydailynews.com Follow on Twitter @jmolinet

ON A MOBILE DEVICE? CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO.

Sent from my iPhone