Separation of church and state in question in Texas schools

A solid purple flag flies alongside the U.S. and Texas flags outside of LaPoynor School, part of LaPoynor ISD, in LaRue on Jan. 18, 2024.Photo byLeslie Nemec for The Texas Tribune

Kenneth Bitz felt offended when he drove past the newly constructed auditorium in LaPoynor Independent School District.

Kenneth saw three flagpoles- A U.S. flag, a Texas Flag, and a Christian Flag. According to Kenneth, the third flag is a high level of violation of Church-State separation.

Bitz said that it's a giant "Red Flag". Bitz is a resident of LaRue in Henderson County. He said this was the only district that flew a Christian Flag. But Bitz isn't the only person concerned about this change.

A national nonprofit group asked an East Texas district with less than 500 students to take down a religious symbol placed on the school as it violated the separation of Church and State.

Upon such actions, some students from the conservative communities protested and put their Christian Flags on the hoods of their cars. Eventually, the Christian flag made its way back to the school district again.

The director of the First Amendment Center and the Law and Religion Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin, Steven Collis, said that the time has gone when having a religious flag violated the law.

The case is different from before as now everyone has the same access to the pole, meaning- everybody can put up the flag for what they vouch for as long as it's the students deciding to do so.

However, this flag is controversial due to its return during a harsh time when the Supreme Court of the U.S. and the Texas government have just recently redrawn the line on what constitutes the Constitution's first amendment.

Last year, the Texas Senate passed a bill asking public schools to have copies of Judeo-Christain Ten Commandments displayed in the classrooms. However, the bill eventually died in the Texas House itself.

Not only this, in 2021, both chambers of the Texas government passed a law requiring Texas classrooms to display the words "In God we trust" if they get any donations.

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