A lunch that honors Jesus and draws hundreds of Wisconsin teens is at risk of being shut down.
It's called "Jesus Lunch." Some of the moms in Middleton, WI started it a couple of years ago according to Christianity Today.
It's pretty simple. They pack sack lunches and bottled water for the kids. The big draw isn't the grub, it's the inspirational message about a Savior who loves them.
"We show up every week just to show the love of Jesus," parent Beth Williams was quoted telling Fox News. "Our mission statement for Jesus Lunch is 'food for the body, nutrition for the soul'"
Some of the parents in the community are pretty impressed with the kids, that in this day and age they choose to participate in such a wholesome activitiy.
The school's principal and the school district's superintendent see it differently according to a report in Christianity Today. They're demanding Jesus Lunch be stopped, pronto, calling it "divisive."
In a letter the dated April 12th, Superintendent Donald Johnson and Principal Stephen Plant said the lunch violate all kinds of rules.
"We believe that religious or political events do not have a place in our school or on our campus, except when sponsored by a student group in accordance with our rules, which require prior approval," they said.
That's not all. Perhaps the food is dangerous."The policies in question include food handling, visitors to campus, and expectations around student organized events. We are in no way interested in opposing religious practice in otherwise legal circumstances," they said in the letter.
The school district has a policy that allows students to leave the school campus at lunchtime. The Jesus Lunch is held at a nearby city park called "Fireman's Park." The moms who organized Jesus Lunch believe that the park is not school property and therefore none of the campus rules apply.
In fact, they issued a statement saying, "Fireman's Park, a public park owned by the City of Middleton, remains accessible to everyone in the public for the purposes of assembly and free speech."
However, administrators said they have a lease agreement with the city over the park, and technically the park is school property, so the campus rules do apply.
The mothers hired attorney Phillip Stamman, who says this case is about religious freedom. "These are mothers. They are spending all their time and effort to show love for these kids and now they are being attacked by a superintendent and principal, trying to intimidate them," he said.
He added the school district "is going after them" because of their message. They are upset because they are sharing Christianity," Stamman stated.
WND.com reports that police are monitoring the lunches to make sure things don't get out of hand with people on both sides of the issue.
"Reasonable people differ over the interpretation of the wording of the lease," Police Chief Charles Foulke was quoted by WND.com from the department's Facebook page.
"I'm not worried about reasonable people, but I am concerned about unreasonable people, people who are using this issue for their own purposes and who are beginning to threaten good people on either side of this issue," Foulke went on to say.
"I hope it is not the students who teach the adults how to act," he concluded.
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