A Michigan elementary school reversed its decision to ban two children from singing Christian songs at an upcoming talent show.
First Liberty Institute attorney Kayla Toney joined my Newsmax show to announce that school leaders had seen the error of their decision.
“We sent a letter to the school explaining that the First Amendment protects the freedom of students to express their faith,” Toney said. “That’s both the free exercise clause and the free speech clause. And this is an easy one. We gave the school a very simple option of allowing the students to sing their songs the talent show just as they had planned and practiced or else faced the legal consequences and we’re so glad that the school did the right thing here.”
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ORIGINAL STORY: Two Michigan elementary school students were barred from performing music in an upcoming talent show because the songs referenced God.
The students, at West Ward Elementary School, were told just days before auditions that the songs they had selected were inappropriate. The musical selections were popular songs by American Idol stars Brandon Lake and Colton Dixon.
First Liberty Institute, a religious liberty law firm, said school officials told the students that allowing the second-grader’s song was a problem because it had “very clear language about worshipping God,” and that the issue with the fifth-grader’s song was that “not everyone believes in God.”
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“It’s cruel that a school would threaten to censor elementary students from singing popular songs just because they are religious,” said First Liberty attorney Kayla Toney. “As the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized, students do not lose their First Amendment rights when they walk through the schoolhouse gates. School officials need to comply with the law and stop censoring students’ religious expression.”
A school official told the mother of one the students that the song, “That’s Who I Praise,” was just “too Christian based.”
In its letter to school officials, First Liberty says, “As the Supreme Court’s holding in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District made clear, the First Amendment protects students’ ability to express their faith in public schools.
First Liberty called on the school to reverse its decision and allow both students to perform in the talent show. Otherwise, the school could be forced to explain its censorship before a judge.