Print 
PDF
Following the assignment her teacher had given, 10 year old Erin Shead began to write about someone she really looks up to.
When Erin's teacher received her written assignment, she told the 10 year-old it was unacceptable, she couldn't write about looking up to that person.
She had picked the wrong person to look up to. Erin had written about God. Following the rejection, Erin chose Michael Jackson.
The teacher had no problem with that choice.
As long as the 10 year old chose an accused child molester to look up to over choosing God, there was no problem.
WREG TV channel 10 has now picked up the story.
Erin is a student at Lucy Elementary in Millington, Tenn.
Her teacher told the kids to write about someone they looked up to--- a personal idol.
Erin's first thought was God.
She drew a diagram explaining why she "looked up to God," with one of the reasons being, "He is the reason I am on this earth."
Oh no, she was both establishing the Christian faith as a state sponsored religion, and advancing Creationism.
She continued: "I love [God] and Jesus, and Jesus is His earthly Son. I also love Jesus."
The 10 year-old said, "God is my idol, I will never hate Him," concluding, "He will always be the number one person I look up to."
Erin's teacher saw the paper and told her she was prohibited from picking God as her idol, and the teacher demanded she start the class assignment over---with a different idol.
The teacher also told Erin that the paper she had written about God as her idol must be taken home as it was not allowed to remain on school property.
Following the teacher's rejection, Erin picked Michael Jackson. The indoctrination was working at that moment. If God was not acceptable, Erin sensed that Michael Jackson probably would be.
He was.
Erin's mother Erica heard about the incident and as you may imagine, was outraged.
We should all be outraged.
She wisely made the story public, and expressed her outrage at how the school discriminated against her daughter because of her religious beliefs.
She told WREG-TV that the school did not have the power to tell her daughter she was not allowed to write about God and Jesus.
She said, "How can you tell this baby, that's a Christian, what she can say and what she can not say?"
The mother has now visited the school and asked to see the policy the teacher was following that prohibits her child from writing about God.
Erica asked the school if they would prefer her daughter idolize Ellen DeGenerus.
As yet, she has not heard back from the school in any official way, however, a spokesperson for the school told the press that although teachers are not allowed to promote religion in class, there is no rule against students writing about religion for a class assignment.
I would say that is the understatement of the year so far.
Public education is a battlefield for the hearts and minds of our children. Sadly, public education has turned from actually educating, to indoctrinating our kids with certain progressive ideologies that help advance a social agenda that stands in direct conflict with traditional, biblical and conservative values and principles.
Last February, a three judge New York panel ruled that an 8th grader could not include a religious blessing at the end of her speech. The 8th grader wanted to give her her classmates this message:
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”’ Numbers 6: 24-26.
And a California 16 year old, Kenneth Dominquez, filed a law suit against a San Diego area school district for forbidding him from bringing his Bible on campus.
Remember the New Jersey 2nd grader who was told she couldn't sing "Awesome God" in an after school talent contest? I wrote a blog about it at the time. After a great deal of pressure and making the public aware of the situation, the school blinked and allowed the 2nd grader to sing "Awesome God."
Public education claims to champion "free speech" and "freedom of expression" as long as the "speech" and "expression" is advancing or at least affirming anything except the Christian faith or biblical truth.
Public education has declared war on the Truth.
The result of the constant attack on Christian kids and their freedom of expression has, in too many cases, resulted in silencing Christians from sharing their views.
This is both intimidation and a form of bullying---all in an environment that declares itself to be open and tolerant.
Here's the good news.
Parents and kids are beginning to stand up to these kinds of personal attacks on individual freedoms.
Children and their parents have much more freedom of religious expression than many think. There has been a false prohibition on religious expression, however, when these cases go to court, often, not always, but often, the Christian kids and their parents win.
If people of faith do not falter or grow weary in well doing, we can prevail in public education.
The ACLU has threatened the school districts with lawsuits if they allowed any kind of religious expression. The school districts, strapped for money, have typically silenced the Christians out of fear of a lawsuit they couldn't pay for and because of extremist progressive ideologies held by many---not all, but many in public education.
Now things are starting to change.
Christians, with the help of several excellent Christian law firms who are willing to defend the rights of Christian kids in the courts, are now starting to change the tide.
I would strongly encourage parents and grandparents to be very vigilant in regard to what your child is being taught in public school. Secondly, if there is an inappropriate attack on your child's freedom of religious expression, let me know. I would be happy to help you get in contact with Christian law firms that are ready to stand with parents and their children in these circumstances.
There are many good, godly teachers in public education, however, there are those who have an agenda and will even risk their careers to advance their secularist, progressive, relativistic philosophy in the classroom.
Do not be afraid to stand against them. Do not be silent. Be respectful, but not silent.
Be Strong. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful. Be Active. Be Blessed.