ACLJ Files Lawsuit Against School After Christian Student Told She Had “No Choice” but To Violate Her Faith

She was crying and asked to be excused, but no one would let her leave.

That’s the moment at the heart of the federal lawsuit we just filed on behalf of a Christian middle schooler in Washington state, and her father, Jonathan. It’s a case about a school district that had every chance to do the right thing – and instead chose, for the third time, to trample on a young girl’s faith.

On May 29, the entire student body – including our client – was marched into a mandatory assembly with no advance warning to parents. What followed was not a lesson in tolerance, but hours of moral instruction pressing students to celebrate ideas that directly conflict with our client’s Christian faith, complete with slides declaring that promoting these views meant “creating a moral standard” in the community.

The Christian student began to cry. She asked to leave. A teacher, in an attempt to spare her from confrontation, told the assembly organizers that she needed to go to the restroom instead of disclosing her religious objection. When our client explained to another teacher that she was a Christian and simply didn’t want to go back in, she was told flatly: “You have no choice.” She was sent back inside, where she sat in tears through the rest of the program, eyes averted from the screen.

No parent was ever told. No one asked the father, Jonathan, whether he wanted his daughter exposed to this – a father whose sincere Christian convictions, and constitutional right, are to guide his own child’s moral and spiritual formation.

Join us as we defend her. Sign our petition: Defeat the Left’s War Against Christians.

This isn’t the first fight with Highline Public Schools. We have sent three previous demand letters in previous years. Three chances for Highline Public Schools to correct course and cease the religious animus occurring within the school district. Each time, the district minimized, deflected, or simply denied wrongdoing.

Longtime readers may remember the first time we sent a demand letter. Years ago, when our client was just a second grader at North Hill Elementary, school officials searched her backpack – more than once – hunting for Bibles and religious materials. She was forced to go to the principal’s office repeatedly simply for talking about her faith at recess. The district eventually admitted it was wrong and promised, in writing, to let her exercise her faith freely going forward. That promise didn’t last.

The second incident of religious animus occurred earlier this year at Sylvester Middle School. She was quietly handing out Gospel tracts between classes – always asking first, never pushing anyone who said no. Vice Principal Lori McEwen pulled her out of math class to shut it down. When she asked why other students could share their opinions but she couldn’t share her faith, McEwen’s answer was stunningly candid: Students may share opinions, she said, but not religious beliefs. When our client pointed out that classmates had just been allowed to leave campus for an ICE protest, McEwen explained it was fine – because that was merely an “opinion.”

A protest march was permitted by the school. However, a shy, respectful conversation about Jesus between two willing classmates was forbidden. That is viewpoint discrimination, plain and simple, and school officials said so themselves.

So today, the ACLJ has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, asserting violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the Washington Constitution – free speech, free exercise of religion, and the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.

Our client is a little girl who has done nothing but live out her faith with kindness and respect for others. She deserves better than backpack searches, viewpoint discrimination, and a teacher telling her she has “no choice” but to abandon her conscience. We intend to make sure she gets it.

Join us as we defend her. Sign our petition: Defeat the Left’s War Against Christians.