My Sunday School Class is in the news! Not really.

A hotly debated 'portrait' of Jesus was stolen from a high school in Bridgeport, West Virginia on Thursday.

Although this picture

had hung in the school for 37 years, the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans for Separation of Church and State sued the Bridgeport School Board earlier this year alleging a constitutional violation.

You can read the full report here.

The funny thing is, this is a version of the same picture that hangs in my Sunday School class at HCUMC:


If you look closely you can see the same image in the back of the room directly behind the guy who is waving. That would be me (50 pounds heavier).

This painting is one of the most famous and widely distributed depictions of Christ. It is titled 'Head of Christ' and was painted by a man named Warner Sallman around 1941.

Here is a somewhat better reproduction of it:


As far as the Constitutional debate is concerned, I'm torn. On the one hand, I don't understand how a purported depiction of Jesus could be considered a violation of the 'establishment clause' . The picture certainly hasn't established much of anything and since when does the Bridgeport, WV School District speak for the Federal Goverment?

On the other hand, this type of thing offends a lot of people. If those people are students or employees of the school, then the picture should have been taken down. Or, in fairness, we could put up pictures of all the world's great religious leaders.

On the other, other hand, this would in turn offend a lot of people as well.

It seems like this is a lot more about who's being offended than about constitutional interpretation. Then again, I'm not a lawyer. But I do play one on TV.

Many Christians get so emotional over these debates that they forget what they are trying to do and what their mission is. If we want to make disciples of others, shoving an inappropriately Anglo-looking picture of Jesus down their throats is probably not going to do the trick.

And if we, as Christians, become so angry and offended at others' efforts to remove a picture like this (because it angers and offends them) that we forget to turn the other cheek, then we're not being a very good witness for the guy whose supposed likeness is on that picture in the first place. Are we?

On a roll now.

Christians who will let themselves get bent out of shape and downright cussin' mad over something like this are missing the point if you ask me.

And isn't there something in the Bible about 'images'? OH YEAH, the Ten Commandments - also something that some Christians get mad enough to fight about.

I've always wanted to ask those folks, "Do you have the Ten Commandments displayed in your home or office?" Or more to the point, "Can you recall all ten?"

Or, "Do you even know where to find them in the Bible?"

(Exodus 20, by the way)

And since you did ask me - by default at least, I think that if you are a Christian, the image of Christ and the Ten commandments should be in your heart, not hangin' on a wall somewhere.