Via the Austen-American Statesman (Texas)…   What it’s come to…

Imagery in Bastrop school mural stirs controversy

A mural meant to bring people together is causing a rift in the Bastrop community.

The painting in question, a student project completed in 2003, adorns a wall in the corridor leading to the Bastrop High School gym. It depicts the sometimes unpleasant history of the town, showing scenes of a Mexican and Comanche raid and slaves working in a cotton field, as well as unifying visions of children of different ethnicities reaching out to one another.

Bastrop school board members were surprised when almost a dozen district residents who signed up to speak at a community forum Tuesday evening wanted to talk about the mural, some calling for its removal on religious grounds and others with arguments for keeping it up.

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Bastrop resident Lauren Hansell, who made the original complaint, homeschools her children but visits the school on Fridays to pray with students at the flagpole.

A Christian, Hansell said she wants the mural removed because of the war and slavery scenes and depictions of Buddha and ancient gods. Hansell said girl’s basketball coach Dee Deshay pointed out the mural as a potential problem.

"When she showed it to me, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ " said Hansell, who added that the mural presents a new age idea of peace and unity that could be confusing to Christian students.

Emphasis mine.  Hansell waves her finger at the depiction of many faiths in the mural…

Among the images on the mural are an Aztec sun, ancient Egypt’s King Tutankhamen, Buddha and Shiva, a Hindu deity, dancing on a demon of ignorance.

Hansell, who at first interpreted Shiva’s dance as a message in favor of abortion, said laws that bar Christian symbols from public schools should apply to the mural.

Here is the tack being played now by the KulturKrieger: If one religion is kept out of the schools they should all be kept out.  But fundamentalist hysterics notwithstanding, Christianity isn’t being kept out of the schools and never has been. Here, the Austin-American Statesman actually does some journalism …

The First Amendment, which bans government-sponsored religious activities even as it protects religious expression from government interference, allows students to pray during school in informal settings, according to U.S. Department of Education guidelines. The guidelines say students have the right to "express their beliefs about religion in the form of homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free of discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions."

Valdez, the muralist, said the purpose of the project was to represent the history and cultural unity in Bastrop. Although no one symbol can represent a culture, he said the students chose the mural’s imagery to represent unity.

That’s the problem.  That was always the problem.  Not that Christianity is being kept out, but that kids of other faiths are allowed to feel welcome…to believe that they are a part of the American fabric too.  That was why the fight was waged back in the 50s and 60s to stop public schools from forcing prayer on students.  That is why people work hard to this day to keep the fundamentalists from co-opting the American public school system.  The public schools are for all children, not some.  And that’s because America is for people of all faiths, not the people of one faith.

That idea is anathema to the fundamentalists, who think Jesus smiles every time they spit in a Samaritan’s face.  If they can’t beat the heathen children down one way, they’ll try to beat them down another.  One way or another, the heathens must be forced to give up their faith.  If they can’t be forced into school prayers.  Maybe they can be forced into silence.

The point was always to coerce everyone into Christianity.  Their brand of Christianity.  This is why the depictions of unity on the mural might be confusing to their children.  It includes everybody.