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Parent outraged over possible pentagram symbol on Mid-South bus

Bus brake lights form a pentagram (Source: WMC Action News 5 viewer) Bus brake lights form a pentagram (Source: WMC Action News 5 viewer)
MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) -

At least one Mid-South parent is concerned about what she says is a satanic symbol on a school bus.

The Cordova, Tennessee parent snapped a photo when she noticed the shape of an upside down, five-pointed star outlined in the brake lights of a school bus that was stopped in Cordova.

"Anyone who fears a God, if not God and Jesus Christ, should be outraged," she said.

WMC Action News 5 is not sharing her name because she's getting death threats for her views.

She says Christians should be outraged that a symbol that looks like a pentagram would be allowed in the design of a vehicle used to transport children to public schools.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a Pentagram as a star with five points often used as a magic or religious symbol.

On social media, parents are arguing both sides of the debate. Some say the brake lights are a subliminal pagan message, while others say it's just an unintentional design.

"If you can't put a cross on there, you cannot put a pentagram on it," she said.

Last month, Walgreen's pulled wrapping paper from its shelves because the images on the paper appeared to be swastikas.

Even those who are not completely sold on the brake light being a sign from the devil have questions.

"Why'd they put it up there," Marsha Hudson asked. "Why'd they put it upside down?"

WMC Action News 5 talked to Jo Applewhite, who is a practicing Wiccan. She says technically the lights do form a pentagram, but she says the symbol itself is not a Satanic or evil one.

"Find out what it really means before you start getting riled up and all worked up about something," Applewhite said. "Wiccans, we believe in God, we believe in Jesus, but we don't call him God."

Either way, the concerned parent says the lights send the wrong signal, and she wants them replaced with solid red brake lights.

Neither Durham School Services nor the school district would answer any questions about the bus' brake lights.

if she's actually receiving death threats like she claims, totally not cool.

Borgholio wrote:

if she's actually receiving death threats like she claims, totally not cool.

I doubt it. At worst, she probably received a bunch of letters telling her that she's a fucking idiot. And since she really is a fucking idiot, she interpreted that as a death threat.

Then again she could just be lying out of her ass to try and gain some sympathy after making a total public fool out of herself...

LaCroix wrote:I wonder how she feels about the US flag...

HeadCreeps wrote:I'm not exactly agreeing with the crazy lady, but putting something like that on a bus in a country where the predominant religion has people who think it's evil is still a dick move and probably shouldn't be done. On some person's car? Sure. That's their choice. On a public bus? Probably shouldn't.

Darth Holbytlan wrote:You make it sound like someone made the conscious decision to do that. I think it's pretty safe to assume that no one thought of them as pentagrams until the woman saw them on the bus and went into a panic.

The designer probably picked the pattern because it is one of the few ways to arrange ten lights symmetrically in a disk and because a star is a pretty pattern. Whoever sourced the lights for installation into the bus may not even have known what the pattern was, just general stats on the light's characteristics. Whoever installed it payed no attention—no attempt was made to make them even point in the same direction.

HeadCreeps wrote:If I have no idea that some religions prohibit ham and I offer someone from that religion some ham, I'm still being a dick.

Darth Holbytlan wrote:Whoever installed it payed no attention—no attempt was made to make them even point in the same direction.

Darth Holbytlan wrote:

HeadCreeps wrote:If I have no idea that some religions prohibit ham and I offer someone from that religion some ham, I'm still being a dick.

Yeah, I don't see how that follows. Besides, this is more like offering that person chicken and them deciding that it looked kind of like ham and raising a big stink about it without checking if they were right.

HeadCreeps wrote:

Darth Holbytlan wrote:

HeadCreeps wrote:If I have no idea that some religions prohibit ham and I offer someone from that religion some ham, I'm still being a dick.

Yeah, I don't see how that follows. Besides, this is more like offering that person chicken and them deciding that it looked kind of like ham and raising a big stink about it without checking if they were right.

Likewise, I don't see how that follows either.

All I'm saying is, putting it on a public bus is a faux pas. The crazy religious lady is raising more than a stink than is necessary, but I don't feel like doing that kind of thing, intentionally or not, is excusable for a public school bus. I fully recognize that it was probably a mistake, though.

Oh sorry, was I supposed to fall in line and make fun of crazy religious people. Oops, I guess I have to try harder.

General Zod wrote:The problem is who cares what religious symbol it happens to be? Freedom of religion applies to the unpopular beliefs just as much as Christianity.

The only valid argument is that religious symbols don't belong on public school buses.

HeadCreeps wrote:

General Zod wrote:The problem is who cares what religious symbol it happens to be? Freedom of religion applies to the unpopular beliefs just as much as Christianity.

The only valid argument is that religious symbols don't belong on public school buses.

And that's the argument I was making, so what's your point?

HeadCreeps wrote:Hm, then maybe. I'm saying a symbol that would offend someone for religious reasons does not belong on a school bus. The article is about someone being offended for religious reasons. Now if that doesn't fall under your idea for "religious symbols don't belong on public school buses", then alright, fair enough.

HeadCreeps wrote:Hm, then maybe. I'm saying a symbol that would offend someone for religious reasons does not belong on a school bus. The article is about someone being offended for religious reasons. Now if that doesn't fall under your idea for "religious symbols don't belong on public school buses", then alright, fair enough.

Jub wrote:

HeadCreeps wrote:Hm, then maybe. I'm saying a symbol that would offend someone for religious reasons does not belong on a school bus. The article is about someone being offended for religious reasons. Now if that doesn't fall under your idea for "religious symbols don't belong on public school buses", then alright, fair enough.

Why shouldn't such symbols be allowed on school buses? Especially when these lights aren't pentagrams as they are not star polygons which is the specific shape that fits within a circle to form a pentagram. At best this is an object that bears a limited similarity with a pentagram.

In any case this is only an issue for the extremely religious, and frankly fuck every single religion that ever has, does, or will exist. Not a single one of them serves a purpose that can't be replaced by a less harmful secular organization in today's world.