4th Grader Says Teacher Forced Him To Remove Ash Wednesday Cross, Refused To Listen to Explanation
Freedom of religion is one of the founding principles of the United States of America, so it’s no wonder that a teacher in Utah is in hot water after a questionable incident on Wednesday.
As you may know, March 6th was no ordinary day for many Catholics and other denominational Christians. The date marked Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, the period leading up to Easter in about a month and a half.
“Like millions of Catholics and other Christians around the world, William McLeod received an ash cross on his forehead to commemorate Ash Wednesday,” reported KSTU News. “When he arrived at school, he noticed he was the only student in his class wearing the ash cross.”
Kids are often curious, and the fourth-grade student did his best to explain the reason for the religious symbol.
“A lot of students asked me what it is. I said, ‘I’m Catholic. It’s the first day of Lent. It’s Ash Wednesday,” McLeod told the news outlet.
According to KSTU, however, a teacher then confronted the boy and ordered him to remove the once-a-year Christian symbol, even after he tried to tell her its significance.
“She took me aside and she said, ‘You have to take it off,’” the student recalled. “She gave me a disinfection wipe — whatever they are called — and she made me wipe it off.”
But now the boy’s family is understandably frustrated, and the school is scrambling to do damage control.
“I was pretty upset,” Karen Fisher, the grandmother of the student, said. To the school’s credit, a principal did call Fisher to apologize for the thoughtless action.
The teacher who forced the boy to remove the Christian symbol apparently did call the family as well, but Fisher was less than impressed with her understanding of basic civics and fundamental rights in America.
“I asked her if she read the Constitution with the First Amendment, and she said, no,” Fisher said.
School officials do appear to be taking the event seriously.
“When a student comes in to school with ashes on their forehead, it’s not something we say ‘Please take off,'” Chris Williams, a spokesman for Davis School District, acknowledged. “Why that even came up, I have no idea.”
“I hope it helps somebody and I hope it never happens again,” the boy’s grandmother said. “I don’t think it will.”
Now, this could have been an honest misunderstanding by the teacher who was unfamiliar with Lent — although you’d think an educator in a fairly religious state like Utah would be a bit more, well, educated.
However, it definitely seems to be part of a growing trend of open hostility by government institutions against traditional Christianity. That’s the same trend we saw in nearby Colorado, where even the U.S. Supreme Court recently scolded officials for their intolerance of faith.
The First Amendment is more than just a few words on paper. It’s an acknowledgment of the fundamental rights upon which our entire country is based — and that is worth defending, especially now.
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