Group seeks to pull Jesus messages from city plows

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Two Christian schools in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, have been asked to paint over religious messages that students had put on city-owned snow plow blades after a group complained that it violated separation of church and state.

Students at Lutheran High School and Sioux Falls Lutheran School painted the blades for the city’s Paint the Plows program. One blade featured the words “Jesus Christ” and the other said “Happy Birthday Jesus.”

The Siouxland Freethinkers complained, saying religious messages don’t belong on city vehicles, including snow plows.

Lutheran High School Principal Derek Bult said he was upset when he learned that his students had to redecorate the blade or the city would paint over it, noting that there isn’t time to come up with a new design.

Bult says, “You may paint over our plow, but that doesn’t change what we feel and what we believe.”

%@AP Links

235-a-05-(Derek Bult, Lutheran High School principal, in AP interview)-“what we believe”-Lutheran High School Principal Derek Bult says he and his students are disappointed but not distraught. ((cut used in wrap)) (23 Oct 2014)

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234-a-12-(Derek Bult, Lutheran High School principal, in AP interview)-“as a school”-Lutheran High School Principal Derek Bult says his students worked hard on their snow plow design. (23 Oct 2014)

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233-w-35-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor, with Lutheran High School Principal Derek Bult)–Two Christian schools in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, have been asked to paint over religious messages that students had put on city-owned snow plow blades after a group complained that it violated separation of church and state. AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (23 Oct 2014)

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Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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