MIDDLETON, Wis. – The radical Freedom From Religion Foundation may have foolishly anticipated public support in the spring when it tried to end the weekly “Jesus Lunches” involving Middleton High School students.

But the effort failed, and the Jesus Lunches are scheduled to resume in the fall – probably because most people have no objection to students and parents meeting in a public park to eat and discuss their faith.

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EAGnews, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, recently used a public records request to obtain copies of Middleton-Cross Plains school district emails regarding the Jesus Lunches.

Hundreds of residents – as well as people from all over Wisconsin and the nation – sent messages to school administrators to express their opinions.

The vast majority were supportive of the Jesus Lunches, or at least the right of parents and students to gather off campus and discuss any topic they choose. Most said the school district – and outside groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation — should mind their own business.

“It is a sad day in America when the education bureaucracy feels empowered to limit religious activities of members of the community,” one citizen wrote to school officials.

The school district initially tried to stop the popular lunches, which were drawing approximately 500 students every Tuesday during lunch hour to Fireman’s Park, a city-owned facility near the high school.

District officials cited several reasons for their opposition. They noted that the district had a non-exclusive lease to use the park during school hours, and the local mothers who organize the lunches did not seek their permission or sign in with the school. Officials also expressed concern that the food being served had not been inspected and approved by the district.

The situation came to a head one week when school district officials blocked off the parking lot at Fireman’s Park and confronted the mothers when they showed up with food. But the mothers parked on the street, walked into the park and set up for lunch anyway.

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By that time the mothers had secured an attorney and were threatening a lawsuit to protect their First Amendment right to gather on public property.

In May the Middleton-Cross Plains school board finally decided to give up its lease of Fireman’s Park and remove the district from the debate. That came after the city of Middleton acknowledged the right of parents and students to gather in the park, and many citizens had urged the district to avoid litigation over a harmless event.

“There was a lot of support expressed toward the mothers who organized the Jesus Lunches,” said Phillip Stamman, the attorney representing the mothers. “We found it very helpful. The mothers were under a lot of pressure, and it reassured them to have that support.”

The outcome was clearly a setback for the atheist Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which contacted district officials in the spring and offered to help end the lunches.

“A number of Middleton HS parents have contacted FFRF this week regarding the religious lunchtime events held at Fireman’s Park,” Ryan Jayne, an attorney for the Madison-based FFRF, emailed to the district. “We’d like to support the District’s efforts to keep proselytizing adults away from students during the school day …”

The organization sent a group of lawyers and supporters to loudly protest in Fireman’s Park while the students and parents met. That led to an angry exchange of words one Tuesday between participants and protesters.

The FFRE even offered free pizza to Middleton High School students who joined their protests.

Despite the school board’s decision to leave the Jesus Lunches alone, FFRF officials vowed to fight on, because they say the lunches occur too close to the high school for their taste, allowing “religious messages to enter the hallways and classrooms,” according to WKOW.

Standing up to anti-Christian bigotry

The FFRF frequently uses the threat of lawsuits to pressure schools and local governments across the nation to abolish all references to Christianity.

It’s been successfully many times. Among other things, the FFRF has forced schools to remove historic portraits of Christ from walls, remove Christian symbols from memorials to deceased teachers, end long-term associations with graduation baccalaureate ceremonies at local churches, and stop parents from praying on school property.

The group seeks to erase the right of Christians to express their faith on public property, and stop government from acknowledging and respecting the nation’s predominant religion.

The FFRF and similar groups seek to build a wall between government and citizens, threatening the concept of government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

But the people of Middleton – and other concerned citizens around the nation – didn’t put up with it this time.

Just one page of Middleton-Cross Plains school district emails revealed 84 citizens writing in support of the Jesus Lunches and 32 opposed.

The following comments were written by supporters of the Jesus Lunches and emailed to school officials:

“Please make yourself familiar with the First Amendment of the United States Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….”

“I believe you have started an unwarranted fight which could put the district in a legally difficult position. Courts have ruled that children at school have the right to religious discussion when speaking on their own time and of their own volition. I do not see how Christian students on their lunch break can be restricted from gathering to discuss their shared religion. I suspect that you would not consider trying to keep members of any of the other four major religions from congregating in co-believer groups and discussing their religion among themselves.”

“You all should be ashamed. You always complain about no parental involvement and these folks get involved and you want to put them out. Shame on you!!!!!”

“Another case of school officials trying to discriminate against decent moral religious people. Whoever’s responsible for trying to discriminate this way should be summarily fired. There is no room for this sort of ignorant prejudice in our educational system.”

“I think what the parents are doing in providing lunches and a message about morality is good for the students and society. It appears to be a right protected by the constitution and one that does not genuinely pose any harm. Please allow the lunches to continue.”

“As parents of a child that has attended these lunches occasionally for the past several years we couldn’t disagree more with you regarding the recent e-mail you sent. In our opinion, the e-mail attempted to paint these parents as some sort of fanatical religious zealots. They are anything but and quite frankly are providing something for the kids that the school can’t. And, the attendance shows the kids welcome the opportunity for such.”

“The First Amendment, as you well know, outlines freedoms of the people, not powers of the government. Without assurance of the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly, where will we end as a country? What kind of freedoms, or lack thereof, will our children inherit? No student is forced to attend the Jesus Lunches. High school students, who we hope are learning critical thinking and discernment regarding a plethora of views, are making an independent decision by attending.”

“Your policy allows off-campuses lunch, allowing students to do whatever the wish. Therefore, you cannot pick and choose where your guidelines apply. What I do find objectionable is that only for this benign and positive activity is that NOW the school district claims responsibility for this adjacent public park. Why is it that only on Tuesday during lunch time all of a sudden you care who is in that park that has not registered as a school guest?! There are strangers and citizens at any time on any given day to be in that same park. You cannot and do not require them to sign-in.”

The following message came from a student:

“It is sad to think that this one day out of the week where I get to see and talk to people who I never would meet, is trying to be shut down by my school. It’s awful and not acceptable. Some things in the school I do not agree with, but I am not complaining and trying to shut them down. Why are you doing this where it brings so many people excitement and hope during the week?? Please find a way to resolve this so that we can keep the Jesus Lunch.”