'God' censored in 1st grader's Veteran's Day poem
Alliance Defending Freedom sends letter to NC school district
Attorney sound bite: Matt Sharp
MARION, N.C. — Just 25 miles from a North Carolina college that censored the phrase “Christmas trees” before reversing course last week, an elementary school has removed a sentence referring to “God” from a 1st-grader’s poem commemorating her grandfathers’ military service. The school forced the student to remove the sentence prior to presenting the poem at a Veteran’s Day ceremony last month.The censored sentence, referring to one of her grandfathers who served during the Vietnam War, read, “He prayed to God for peace, he prayed to God for strength.” Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Friday on behalf of McDowell County residents who are concerned that similar acts of unconstitutional censorship could occur again.
“America’s public schools should encourage, not restrict, the constitutionally protected freedom of students to express their faith,” said Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “Students should not be censored when speaking about their faith or honoring those who valiantly served to protect our freedoms. The poem described the historical actions of her grandfather, and the Constitution protects such student expression at school.”
The first-grader attends West Marion Elementary School in the McDowell County School District. As the Alliance Defending Freedom letter to the district and the school explains, “school officials may not suppress or exclude the personal speech of students simply because the speech is religious or contains a religious perspective.”
“The censorship of this young student’s poem about her grandfathers is repugnant to the First Amendment rights of all students and sends an impermissible message of hostility towards religion,” the letter continues, adding that “the First Amendment protects the right of students to discuss their faith--especially when they are discussing a historical event like this student in her poem honoring her grandfathers.”
The letter requests changes to the school district’s policies to ensure that unconstitutional censorship does not continue to occur at any of the district’s schools.
Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense Fund) is an alliance-building legal ministry that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.
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ABOUT Matt Sharp
Matt Sharp serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he is the director of the Center for Public Policy. In this role, he leads ADF's team of policy experts as they craft legislation and advise government officials on policies that promote free speech, religious freedom, parental rights, and the sanctity of human life. Since joining ADF in 2010, Sharp has authored federal and state legislation, regularly provides testimony and legal analysis on how proposed legislation will impact constitutional freedoms, and advises governors, legislators, and state and national policy organizations on the importance of laws and policies that protect First Amendment rights. He has twice testified before the U.S. Congress on the importance of protecting free speech and religious liberty in federal law. Sharp also authored an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of nearly 9,000 students, parents, and community members asking the court to uphold students’ right to privacy against government intrusion. Sharp earned his J.D. in 2006 from the Vanderbilt University School of Law. A member of the bar in Georgia and Tennessee, he is also admitted to practice in several federal courts.