WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

West Virginia Lawsuit Says Portrait Of Jesus In Public High School Violates Church-State Separation

When Harold Sklar moved to a small community in north central West Virginia, he enrolled his children in the local public schools, and like many parents, he hoped that they would be accepted and fit in.

But Sklar, who is Jewish, soon discovered that religion would prove an exceedingly divisive issue. He was shocked to learn that a large portrait of Jesus was prominently displayed outside the principal's office at a high school in Bridgeport.

"I was born in Brooklyn and attended a multicultural public school, where I remember seeing pictures of George Washington and Lincoln," Sklar, an attorney with the U.S. Justice Department, told Church & State. "And I have debated and given lectures at private religious schools, where largerthan-life pictures of religious figures are fine.

"But, boy, when I saw the portrait of Jesus at Bridgeport, I was made to feel very uncomfortable," continued Sklar. "The fact is that the print is one of the world's most widely published religious icons and bolted to the wall right outside the principal's office."

Sklar, whose son graduated from Bridgeport High, has two daughters preparing to attend there. The portrait, he said, "sent to me the unmistakable message that this is our school and you are a guest."

Sklar said that he did not initially believe that filing a lawsuit was the correct course of action. He figured that by bringing the matter to the attention of school officials that they would - perhaps reluctantly - remove the picture.

"I thought the matter was a no-brainer," Sklar said.

But the situation surrounding the display of the portrait of Jesus, Warner Sallman's "Head of Christ," has been anything but a no-brainer for Bridgeport High officials and the Harrison County Board of Education.

Indeed, Sklar made numerous requests over a span of a decade that went ignored. Complaints by other Bridgeport residents were also brushed off, he said.

In early summer after sending several letters to school officials urging them to remove the portrait, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the ACLU of West Virginia tiled a lawsuit in federal court, arguing that the religious picture blatantly violated the First Amendment principle of church-state separation. The legal action, Sklar v. Board of Education, was lodged on behalf of Sklar and another Bridgeport resident, Jacqueline McKenzie.

"Public schools must welcome children of all religious beliefs," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, in a statement announcing the lawsuit. "Display of a devotional portrait of Jesus sends the unmistakable message that Bridgeport High is endorsing Christianity. That leaves out students with other beliefs and violates the Constitution."

The Sallman portrait of Jesus is certainly the nation's most famous rendering of Christianity's central figure. Stephen Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University, told The Boston Globe that the devotional artwork has sold more than 500 million copies.

The portrait was also at issue in a 1993 Michigan case. The facts of Washegesic v. Blamningdale Public Schools nearly mirror those in Bridgeport. The picture of Jesus had hung for 30 years outside the principal's office. A U.S. district court found that the display violated the separation of church and state and ordered its removal. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.

On a number of occasions, Sklar provided copies of the Washegesic ruling to Hurrison County school officials in un effort to persuade them to remove the portrait and avoid a legal battle. Americans United and the West Virginia ACLU also cited the ruling in their correspondence to the public school officials and in their lawsuit.

Sklar said that he slowly lost hope that school officials would quietly remove the portrait. He became more active this year, alter hearing about other school-sanctioned activities that involved religion and that made his daughter feel excluded.

"The schools in this area have Christ clubs and Christian athleticassociations, Christmas plays and pageants that amount to an accepted affirmation as to the correctness of the majority's religious beliefs," Sklar said. "But that is not enough. They also must have this painting bolted to the outside of the principal's office to send the message that this is our school."

Earlier in the year. Sklar went before the Harrison County Board of Education on two different occasions to seek the portrait's removal. During one of his appearances, he again provided Harrison County school officials with the Washegesic decision and rhetorically asked whether a picture of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, the Dalai Lama or Mormon prophet Joseph Smith would be allowed to remain on display.

Sklar was not alone in his quest to encourage Bridgeport and school district officials to abide a fundamental constitutional principle - keeping government and religion separate.