Hours before a Benton High School home football game, two students were ordered to carry out the school’s decision to violate a contract with a donor. The reason? The donor, a local gym, paid $3,500 to have its logo painted in the end zone and used a cross and reference to the Bible in its logo.

The gym in question is Christ Fit Gym, a faith-based gymnasium in Bossier City, Louisiana, a town not far from Benton High School. The official logo contains a tri-colored cross inside an incomplete circle and the words “1 Timothy 4:8” below the gym’s name. The Bible verse referenced reads, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has a value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

Sadly, some criticism of the logo would not be unsurprising in this day and age, but no one expected a federal lawsuit to result from some paint on grass. Still, Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit against the school district claiming that the district was promoting Christianity, and proselytizing students through “widespread use of prayer on school property, during school events, in classrooms at all levels, at sporting events, at graduation ceremonies, during awards assemblies and at student government meetings.”

Billy Weatherall, the owner of Christ Fit Gym, was startled and “devastated” by the news that two students had been ordered by the school to spray paint over Christ’s name. “I got a phone call from a school official Friday morning while I was having my quiet time and drinking coffee,” Weatherall said. “He said they were instructed to paint over the cross, and he was devastated about it.”

Weatherall had paid the high school football booster club $3,500 to put his logo in the end zone for the 2018-19 football season. No one had a problem with the logo when the school finalized the legal contract with Weatherall, but despite the contract and a judge granting a temporary restraining order, the school still told students to remove the logo. The two teenage boys, however, refused to comply. “No matter what people say, you have to stand up for Christ even if it could get you in trouble with the school, or anyone else,” one of the boys said.

As for Weatherall, he does not intend to take this lying down.

“What would Jesus do? Jesus would not say this is okay. Jesus would not allow His name to be stamped out. I want to fight this fight,” Weatherall said. “This is something I believe in. This is what my faith is all about. This is something I cannot and will not compromise on.”

Christianity is under attack across America. Case in point: not even a signed contract and a judge’s order can keep people from removing a logo simply because it contains Christ’s name. In that sort of environment, one can only wish Weatherall good luck in his quest to return his logo to the end zone. Heaven knows it is about time Christianity fought back.