Latest update...2:30 CST Friday...Liberty Counsel reports that within hours after filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of artist Lloyd Marcus against the City of Deltona, community authorities reversed their decision to censor three of the artist's paintings because of their "religious" content. The paintings had been part of a local exhibit in honor of Black History Month.

Earlier report....

(AgapePress) - One Florida city may soon face legal action after officials censored religious paintings that were part of an exhibit on Black History Month.

The three original paintings by Lloyd Marcus were part of an employee-organized display in the lobby of Deltona City Hall. One painting features a New Orleans funeral procession. Another shows a black male staring out a second-floor window to the street, where a partially obscured sign on the street belongs to the "Holy Refuge Church"; the name "Jesus" and the Bible are partially revealed in the painting. A third shows a Christmas basket.

But city officials said the display of the paintings violated the Constitution. In a letter to the well-known local artist and community supporter, L. Roland Blossom -- Deltona's acting city manager/city attorney -- demanded that the paintings be removed because of their religious content.

Marcus has retained the Liberty Counsel legal group to represent him in his challenge to the demands from the city. According to Liberty Counsel president and general counsel Mat Staver, Deltona authorities have been made aware of the law.

Mat Staver

"Liberty Counsel has now sent a letter to the city manager, outlining that this is absolutely a knee-jerk reaction not called for by the Constitution," the attorney explains. "He's not showing neutrality at all. He's showing hostility because he's censoring out a major portion of religion from Black History Month."

The two -- black history and its religious history -- cannot be separated, says Staver. And under the city's "distorted understanding" of church and state, he adds, President Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address would be deemed unconstitutional because he referenced God and quoted scriptures while addressing the subject of slavery.

"The history of Martin Luther King [Jr.] cannot be separated from his fiery pulpit speeches any more than these religious paintings should be removed from a display celebrating Black History Month," says the Liberty Counsel leader.

In that light, Staver maintains that public displays of religious art -- like that rendered by Marcus -- do not violate the U.S. Constitution.

"Our letter outlines the fact that it is clearly permissible to have religious paintings [in a public venue]," he says. "In fact, we even point to a Supreme Court decision that says in the National Gallery, with federal taxpayer funds, we display on a permanent basis The Last Supper and The Crucifixion of Christ among many other religious imagery and artistic works. So it's obviously not unconstitutional to have a temporary display, privately sponsored, during Black History Month."

But the city itself, he says, could be in violation of the Constitution by showing hostility toward religion.

"The city's act of censorship offends all those who cherish freedom of speech," Staver says in a press release announcing that on February 17 his firm filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Deltona over the matter. "City officials should right their wrong, recognize their mistake, and repost the paintings. Religious themes or imagery in artwork depicting black history are protected by the First Amendment."

The attorney explains that although Mr. Marcus has had a lengthy and cordial relationship with the community of Deltona, the artist chose to file the lawsuit "because he realized this issue transcends his personal interests and artwork."