Residents at Lake Local Schools continue to clash over whether “belief in God” should be included under the public school’s values statement.

More residents are telling the Lake Local Schools Board of Education that they believe in God and don’t want the district’s values statement to change.

School board members are wrestling with whether they should drop the phrase “belief in God” from the district’s values statement.

A dozen residents addressed the school board at a meeting Monday night, and 11 urged the district to keep the statement. Ironically, the only person who recommended dropping the phrase is a minister.

The board delayed making a final decision on the issue, primarily because of residents urging the district to fight.

“There’s no hurry here,” Bill Jelen, the school board’s president, said after the meeting.

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Briefs have been filed in the on-going trial over whether Judge James DeWeese of Richland County may continue posting relgious documents on the courtroom wall.

A second constitutional challenge to an Ohio judge’s display of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom is making its way through the court system.

At issue is whether a new, self-designed and framed poster put up by Richland County Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese in his Mansfield courtroom is constitutional. He says it is. Advocates for church-state separation say it isn’t.

The judge hung the poster in 2006. That was after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 let stand previous lower-court rulings that his first poster, which he hung in 2000, violated the constitutional separation between church and state.

Students, leaders and community members at Lake Local Schools are struggling with how to respond to a recent letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation that takes issue with part of the school’s values statement that promotes belief in God.

Mackenzie Michalk and Alex Looney don’t want the Lake Local Board of Education to change the district’s values statement.

The Lake High School juniors also dislike that an outside organization — the Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., is threatening a lawsuit if the school board doesn’t make the change.

Michalk considers the threat a bully’s move. She dislikes that Freedom From Religion Foundation members are trying to “impose their belief in having no beliefs.”

Michalk and Looney have responded by letting folks know their beliefs. The pair are selling T-shirts to fellow Lake High students and area residents that read: “We value a belief in God.”

A report on what some Ohio schools are doing to ensure their holiday programs do not unfairly endorse one religion over others.

As superintendent of the Jefferson Local School District in Madison County, William Mullett doesn’t worry too much about being politically correct at Christmastime.

The district has allowed Christmas trees as school decorations and Christmas carols at holiday concerts.

Teachers don’t push Christianity or partake in religious observances in the classroom, but secular celebrations of the season don’t raise an eyebrow.

That’s probably because the district is homogenous and almost exclusively Christian, Mullett acknowledged.

“It’s really never been a big issue here,” he said.

That’s in contrast to his seven years in the Sylvania City Schools, near Toledo. The district had a large Jewish population, and the rules on winter holidays were precise. For example, Christmas trees were OK on a staff member’s desk but not in a hallway or on a classroom floor.

Great news from Shelby, as the mayor acts courageously and vetoed unconstitutional legislation that unfairly promotes partiular religions.

Mayor Bill Freytag has vetoed the ordinance that would have required City Council meetings to open with a prayer.

He e-mailed council members about the decision Wednesday.

“Over the past several weeks, we have all engaged in a long and serious debate concerning legislative prayer at our council meetings. In addition, I have received numerous phone calls and letters on this issue from both residents and non-residents of the city of Shelby,” Freytag wrote. “After discussing this further with council member (Steve) Schag and Law Director (Lee) Shepherd, it would not be wise to enact this legislation under such a cloud of uncertainty.”

The ACLU mourns the loss of longtime civil libertarian and Youngstown ACLU Chapter founder Bishop John H. Burt.

The Rev. John H. Burt, 91, retired bishop of Ohio for the Episcopal Church, died Tuesday at his home on the southern shore of Lake Superior.

The Rev. Mr. Burt served seven years at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Youngstown, where he received the Arvona Lynch Human Relations Award. He was also the founding president of the city’s American Civil Liberties Union.

When he left Youngstown in 1957 to become rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif., The Vindicator wrote an editorial calling his departure “a matter of public regret” and saying the city was better for his having been here.

Another religious liberty issue percolating in the Mansfield area involves legislation approved by Shelby City Council to authorize prayer before every meeting. The mayor is currently weighing whether to veto it or not.

A controversial issue over prayer at council has left Bill Freytag with what he called “the toughest decision I’ve been faced with since I became mayor.”

Shelby’s chief administrator said he is giving serious thought to vetoing an ordinance passed Monday at council permitting prayer at the start of council meetings.

“I’ve been asked by one council member to use the veto, and I have 10 days to decide,” Freytag said Thursday. “Both sides have compelling arguments.”

Freytag said he met Tuesday with city Law Director Lee Shepherd, who has called the ordinance unconstitutional. The mayor said the two will meet again this week.

The ACLU was once again successful in it’s pursuit to ensure Richland County Judge James DeWeese does not inappropriately endorse one religion over another in his courtroon.

Judge James DeWeese must take down a framed poster of the Ten Commandments — for the second time.

Finding for the Ohio ACLU on Thursday in its second lawsuit against the Richland County Common Pleas judge, federal district court Judge Patricia A. Gaughan ordered DeWeese to remove the display as it unconstitutionally endorsed particular religious views over others.

DeWeese could not be reached for comment.

[…]

“We are pleased the court saw through this transparent attempt to sidestep the Constitution. Even with a few minor alterations from his original 2002 display, it was clear that Judge DeWeese’s intentions to promote a particular religion remained the same,” Ohio ACLU Executive Director Christine Link said Thursday.

“We feel very strongly about this because the First Amendment is extremely important,” ACLU attorney Mike Honohan said. “I don’t think it’s any coincidence our forefathers put the freedom of religion and speech together in the First Amendment, and we certainly don’t want to allow these rights to erode.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has asked a Canton-area school to remove a reference to the belief in God in its mission statement.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation wants Lake Local Schools to change its values.

The school district’s mission statement includes the phrase “we value” followed by a list that includes “belief in God and religious freedom.” The statement is on the front page of a newsletter mailed to Lake Local residents this month.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president, called the statement “shocking” and “one of the most egregious” violations she has seen of the Constitution’s language separating church and state.