Harding High School ninth-grader Anthony Miller has gone on strike. He is refusing to take part in certain activities to protest the removal of a plaque containing the Ten Commandments from the hallway of his Marion, Ohio, school, the
Marion Star reported, crediting the
Harding Herald student paper.
Miller said he told principal Kirk Koennecke that until a deal was reached over where to place the plaque, he would not take part in Harding-related extracurricular activities, participate in classes — though he will attend them — or do his homework.
"I won't even wear my Harding Marching Band shirt," he said.
Miller, along with several other students, is circulating a petition to have the plaque remounted. It was a gift from the school's class of 1953. The principal says it will be stored as part of an archival history of the school.
Superintendent Gary Barber said he was following the law and had the plaque taken down to avoid legal entanglements that other school systems in the state were encountering.
Barber and Miller, along with local clergy and members of the community, are to resume discussions in January about where to place the plaque.
School officials indicate they won't punish Miller so long as he is not disruptive. The freshman says he is not going to worry about homework or grades until the issue is resolved.
Writing in the school paper, student
Sidney Cook argues that keeping the Ten Commandments on display does not infringe on the Constitution's separation of church and state because they express the values of all three leading monotheistic faiths.
Cook challenges: "What about the rights of religious people?"
In counterpoint to Cook, student Shanna Morris argues that as religious laws,
the Ten Commandments shouldn't be allowed on school property, both to avoid offending the sensibilities of atheists and to honor the separation of church and state.
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