Tenn. School District Refuses to Remove Christian Flag From School Board Meetings

A Tennessee school district has reportedly refused to remove a Christian flag from its premises despite demands from a national atheist group to do so.

Tennessee's Unicoi County School District recently said that it will continue to display the Christian flag at its school board meetings despite demands from the Freedom From Religion Foundation to remove it.

Tyler Engle, chairman of the Unicoi County Board of Education, said in a statement to the local media outlet WJHL-TV that the board does not plan to remove the flag any time soon.

"I'm unsure as to how long the flag has been displayed here, you know its not something that is intentionally brought out at every meeting, it is here in the room even when the board doesn't meet," Engle told the local media outlet.

"Our attorney is carefully reviewing the constitutional precedent and the constitutional law as well as the case law that is cited in the letter," he continued, adding "The board is not planning to take immediate action."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation said in a recent press release that the district's refusal to remove the flag "unabashedly creates the perception of government endorsement of Christianity."

"The display of this Christian flag is a brazen affront to the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution," FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert said in a letter to the school board.

"Courts have continually held that school districts may not display religious messages of iconography in public schools," Markert continued. "A majority of federal courts have held displays of Latin crosses on public property to be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion."