A high school teacher’s parking space is garnering national attention over the biblical words painted on it — text from Philippians 4:13, which reads, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”
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The encouraging Bible verse is on one of the spaces outside Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel, Florida, WFLA-TV reported.
But while some might find the message encouraging, Marina Gentilesco, an instructional assistant at the school, is “angry” when she passes it by each day, according to the outlet.
“I feel like it’s attacking me as a Jew,” Gentilesco told WFLA-TV. “It brings me to the verge of tears, because it brings me back to the 6 million that perished. Six million perished because of our faith — because we’re Jews.”
Gentilesco told WTVT-TV in a separate interview that the verse left her startled and frustrated.
“It said, ‘Christ.’ I was startled by it,” she said. “I was very upset by it.”
Gentilesco believes Scripture simply doesn’t belong on public school property and said she would never push her faith on others.
“My parents are Holocaust survivors and I would never try to convince someone to change their faith,” she said. “The Jews were murdered because they were Jews and Christians survived, and it just brought back the memories of what my parents went through.”
Despite Gentilesco’s pushback, the Pasco County Schools said the verse is a form of free expression on the part of the teacher who posted it and isn’t compelling students or others to do or say anything.
Pasco County Schools Public Information Officer Stephen Hegarty told WFLA-TV it’s “not a violation.”
“There is no proselytizing going on,” he said. “It’s not compelling students to do anything one way or the other.”
The Jewish Community Relations Council Chair Jonathan Ellis said some might see the Bible verse as a First Amendment violation but noted it isn’t directly tied to instruction.
“Because the school is giving the teachers and the students a certain level of freedom to decorate their own space or to individualize their own space, it doesn’t necessarily run into a violation of the establishment clause,” Ellis told WTVT-TV.
The district reportedly has no plans to remove the verse.
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