School graduations in church eyed in Cobb, DeKalb

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The group that wants Cherokee County to stop using a church building for school graduations says it will hold off sending letters demanding that Cobb and DeKalb counties also stop using sanctuaries.

"We are waiting to get specific information about the environments in those churches," Alex Luchenitser, an attorney for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Wednesday.

The Washington-based group is trying to find out how prominent the religious iconography is in New Birth Missionary Baptist church in DeKalb County and Turner Chapel AME Church in Cobb County. School systems in those counties have used both mega-church auditoriums for graduations.

The religious symbols makes a difference, in that the more prominent they are, the easier it is to make a case that using the buildings could violate the religious rights of students who are not Christian, Luchenitser said.

Americans United, which is suing two other schools in other states over the same issue, has told Cherokee it should stop using First Baptist Church of Woodstock's massive sanctuary for graduations. School system officials say the building is thousands of dollars cheaper than any other facility it could rent and is the only building in the county that can seat 4,000 or more people.

First Baptist has crosses prominently displayed inside and outside the building.

The Cherokee County School Board is scheduled to discuss the matter at its January 20 meeting. The board meets in the old Canton High School auditorium at 111 Academy Street in downtown Canton.

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