- April 24, 2024
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Palm Coast resident Donna Lunsford envisions an angel statue at a public park in Flagler Beach, surrounded by trees and benches, serving as a beacon and a gathering spot for parents who have lost children.
But when Lunsford — creator of the local group Parents in Mourning and owner of parentsinmourning.com — asked the Flagler Beach City Commission May 8 to give her the go-ahead to move forward with plans to place the statue on city property, the Commission was unanimous in its opposition, citing concerns that the statue could be interpreted as unconstitutional government promotion of religion and a breach in the separation of church and state.
“If something were to happen that one person gets offended by it, they don’t sue you, they sue the city, because the city is the one that owns the property, and the city is the one that allowed the image,” Commission Chairwoman Kim Carney said to Lunsford during the meeting.
City Attorney Drew Smith said that the angel image would fall in a legal gray area. Courts have deemed similar displays constitutional or unconstitutional in various places and situations.
“As we know, we’ve spent decades talking about the Ten Commandments at courthouses,” he said. “Some courts have said, ‘OK,’ some courts have said, ‘Get them down.’ It depends on the court.”
Smith mentioned a recent Supreme Court case about prayer held at local government meetings in the small town of Greece in New York. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled the prayer permissible, he said, “but they still spent years and years and years in litigation, because somebody in that community was offended, and hired a lawyer.”
The issue of the angel statue has come up in Flagler Beach before.
Lunsford came before the City Commission in December with a request to place the statue in Veterans Park, a proposal criticized by city residents who said a park already dedicated to veterans would be the wrong place for the monument.
Commissioner Jane Mealy said she was concerned about placing a religious image on government property.
Lunsford withdrew her request and appeared before the Commission again May 8, this time arguing for space in Wickline.
A Flagler Beach angel?
But at either city park, Smith said, the project would essentially have to become the city’s.
If it wasn’t, the city risked making the park a “public forum” where anyone could request space for any message.
To avoid that, the city would have to maintain the angel statue’s landscaping.
The city would have to deal with graffiti on the angel.
The city would have to repair the angel statue if it were damaged.
At Thursday’s meeting, Mealy again objected.
“I still have the same issue that I had last time,” she said. “Not everybody believes in angels. It promotes a religious symbol that marks a religion that not everyone believes in. Especially if it’s going to be a city project, I really have trouble with it.”
“This particular angel is for parents who have lost a child,” Lunsford replied.
“But a Muslim parent could lose a child, or a Jewish parent cold lose a child, or an atheist parent could lose a child,” Mealy said. “I’m not opposed to all the rest of it; it’s beautiful. It’s the angel I have trouble with.”
The idea of an angel statue for grieving parents isn’t Lunsford’s. “Angel of Hope” statues, also called “Christmas Box Angel” statues, have been springing up around the country, inspired by a statue described in a children’s Christmas story called "The Christmas Box" by Richard Paul Evans.
Evans formed The Christmas Box International and began having the statues cast in bronze and sold. Lunsford’s statue would be a Christmas Box Angel statue.
But despite that explicitly Christian background, Lunsford said the angel figure isn’t explicitly Christian.
“The angel does not represent an angel from heaven, because this angel, the author that wrote the book 'The Christmas Box,' it’s his daughter’s face,” she said.
Both Lunsford and other local residents who spoke in favor of the angel said the symbolism of an angel isn’t confined to Christianity, and that angels appear in other religions, too.
“This angel of hope comes in every religion,” one woman said during the meeting’s public comment period. “I don’t see the problem with it.”
Angels do appear in Jewish and Muslim scripture. But they aren’t generally portrayed as the gentle, comforting protectors seen in Christian tradition, and the idea of creating an angel statue to contemplate or pray at would be largely foreign to Jewish and Muslim religious tradition.
A place to divide, or a place to bring together?
Several commissioners expressed concern that the angel statue would be divisive.
And as soon as Carney opened the public comment period, Bob Chase — a Flagler Beach resident who often appears at City Commission meetings to heckle commissioners and city staff with language too course to print — launched a foul tirade against Mealy, who is Jewish.
Chase began by swearing at Mealy and the Commission, and ended by yelling at Mealy, “What God do you pray to, lady?”
“I pray to the same God you do, but maybe in a different way,” she replied calmy. “And it’s really none of your business.”
Carney pounded the gavel and told Chase to sit down. He did, grumbling.
Another speaker, Flagler Beach resident Paul Ike, approached the podium and said he thought the idea of a monument worthwhile, but was concerned about the religious symbolism of the angel and about potential unexpected costs in the future.
Another Flagler Beach resident said he thought Wickline too small for the monument, which would be about 22 square feet.
Commissioner Joy McGrew asked Lunsford if she’d consider an image other than the angel.
“Does it have to be an Angel of Hope? Does it have to be this symbol?” she said.
“It does, because the Angel of Hope is all over the United States and outside of the country,” Lunsford said.
“If it’s going to be a bronze statue, you couldn’t get a bronze statue of two children playing, and represent the same thing?” McGrew said. “There’s so many things that you can do to represent the same thing, and take out a major stumbling block, which is religion and government.”
Lunsford said she didn’t see why it was an issue for Flagler Beach.
“I’m curious as to why commissioners around the country voted this in in their parks, and why Flagler Beach has such a problem with it. … We’re not talking one or two parks, we’re talking more than 100, and I gave you all the list of where these parks are.”
The list is also available online. Many of the properties listed are private cemeteries or churches, not subject to the constitutional requirements of government entities.
After several commissioners said they were concerned someone could be offended by the statue and sue, Lunsford said, “People can ride by a church and see a cross and be offended if they’re atheists.”
Mealy replied that those crosses aren’t on public property.
Carney asked Lunsford if she wanted the Commission to hold a vote. “I don’t think you’re going to get a vote with the angel, to be totally honest with you,” she said. “I know what it is. If I had personal property I would give it to you. My mother lost two sons. I think you’re asking the wrong group.”
Lunsford said she already knew the Commission opposed the angel. She asked to leave the issue open, and no vote was held.
McGrew suggested Lunsford reconsider her options. “If you really want to, in my opinion, remember your children — our children of the world — use a child,” she said. “Represent what it is that you miss, that you’ve lost, that you’re having hope for. If it’s important, then I think the negotiations could well stay open and we could come to some kind of agreement and have a beautiful park in Flagler Beach, and have a beautiful place to go, and create a very nice space at Wickline.”
