An American school has succumbed to legal pressure and allowed a 9-year-old student to wear a protective mask with the words: Jesus Loves Me.
At the height of the covid crisis in 2020, the Mississippi school told Lydia Booth to remove the mask and replace it with a different one.
The district school superintendent ruled that masks could not display religious symbols or statements that may be offensive to the school environment.
Lydia’s parents then sued the school.
A settlement was recently reached in which the school agreed to respect students’ freedom of expression and religious views.
It said Lydia could wear her mask again although that may not be necessary post-pandemic.
Christian Headlines reports the family’s lawyers said public schools had no business discriminating against a 9-year-old’s religious expression.
Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Tyson Langhofer said: “Today’s students will be tomorrow’s legislators, judges, educators, and voters. That’s why it’s so important that public schools demonstrate the First Amendment values they are supposed to be teaching to students.”
Photo: Alliance Defending Freedom
