A vortex in America's culture war • Pathway

A vortex in America’s culture war

By Allen Palmeri
Staff Writer

April 13, 2004

Dee Wampler, attorney for Superintendent Greg Thompson, shows the $1,000 eagle sculpture he purchased to help Judge Roy Moore with his legal costs. Moore owes $380,000 in his struggle to regain his job as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Wampler was part of an effort at a banquet in Branson that raised $8,000.

HUMANSVILLE – On a wall leading into the main office at Humansville High School hangs a plaque reading “In God We Trust," deemed by Congress the national motto of the United States of America.

A plaque of the Ten Commandments used to hang in the cafeteria, but it has been removed and is the subject of a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Kansas City that names Humansville Superintendent Greg Thompson, a Christian, as one of three defendants. Thompson hung the plaque six years ago and is fighting for his right to acknowledge God, according to his attorney, Dee Wampler, a member of Second Baptist Church, Springfield.

If Thompson loses his case in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan, a 1991 appointee of then President George Bush, a plaque containing the national motto in a public school like Humansville would be a logical next target, Wampler warned.

“This is just one shot in the culture war," he said. “It’s an opportunity for me as a Christian attorney to stand on the front line."

More than 400 people gathered in the high school gymnasium April 1 in what was billed as an informational meeting about the Ten Commandments lawsuit. It turned out to be more of a revival service glorifying God. Most of the crowd, including Moderator Jim Gardner, wore white t-shirts, each bearing the commandments and the American flag.

Humansville Superintendent Greg Thompson (Above). Talene Hutchison, A Humansville Middle School student, sings as Sen. Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City, center, and Rep. Ronnie Miller, R- Stockton, offer encouragement, (Right)

Pathway photos by Allen Palmeri

Pathway photos by Allen Palmeri

“Don’t be afraid to stand up and make a difference," he said to the audience. “Christians have been asleep for too long. Let us sleep no more."

Talene Hutchison, an eighth-grade student at Humansville Middle School , got the crowd to its feet with a song called “Testify" that she dedicated to Thompson. “He’s the one who stood up and testified," said Hutchison, 14, who is one of several Humansville students displaying a copy of the Ten Commandments on their lockers.

Missouri State Sen. Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City, and Rep. Ronnie Miller, R-Stockton, estimate that anywhere from 90-95 percent of the people in the district are supporting Thompson, with a small percentage supporting plaintiff Carrie Roat of Nixa, whose son attends the high school.

Scott and Miller came to the April 1 rally to acknowledge God.

“The Ten Commandments is so much a part of our whole civilization, whether it be Islamic or Irish, but particularly in America , our whole legal system was built on it," Scott said. “How we can tear that down and say it’s of no importance and cleanse our public square from it is just incomprehensible."

Miller presented Thompson with a proclamation of support signed by 50 state representatives, including Speaker Catherine Hanaway, R-Warson Woods. The crowd responded with a standing ovation.

“Greg has done his homework and I think is well-prepared for the days that come," Miller said. “I know he’s praying for the peace that passes all human under-standing. I’m 99 and 44/100ths percent certain that Greg will never raise his voice during this whole thing. He will always take the high road, and that’s why it’s easy for me to get in there and back him."

Reggie Curtis, pastor, First Baptist Church, Humansville, was the last speaker to rise during the public comment time. Curtis noted how many of the students who spoke at the meeting were building their lives on the right foundation.

“The truth is diving into these kids," Curtis said. “Jesus Christ is who makes these students stand up and talk. They have a foundation, and I’m so thrilled because it’s one of the very few times a pastor can look and see and say, ‘Wow! It’s working.’"

A friend of Roat’s voiced the lone dissenting opinion, stating that Thompson had broken the law by posting the Ten Commandments. Curtis played the role of a peacemaker by going to her with a message: Tell Carrie I love her and am praying for her. Roat has attended First Humansville.

“I don’t believe Carrie Roat is intending to tear the community apart," Curtis said. “I think her motives were somehow, in her own eyes, good, but I don’t think she could have ever imagined what would take place from it."

Wampler explained that communities like Humansville are being sacrificed to the god of political correctness. By that he means that a defendant like Thompson is expected to bow the knee before a federal district court judge who typically rules for a plaintiff like Roat under the guise of so-called separation of church and state. Christians like Thompson typically have not been allowed to acknowledge God since the 1960s.

“I am honored to represent a man of his high caliber on such an important legal issue," Wampler said.