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Religious speech is no 'First Amendment Orphan,' Liberty Counsel attorneys say

Religious speech is no 'First Amendment Orphan,' Liberty Counsel attorneys say

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Religious speech is no 'First Amendment Orphan,' Liberty Counsel attorneys say

It's more reason to seek legal advice when someone says “you cannot say those things.”

Liberty Counsel is a good place to look. It has helped students deliver faith-filled graduation speeches.

One example is in North Carolina where a high school attempted to tell its valedictorian to remove and censor his remarks about God and Jesus Christ.

In the speech, the valedictorian spoke about the adversity he had faced due to several medical conditions, one of them life threatening.

Based on advice contained in a letter from Liberty Counsel, and with legal precedents on his side, the valedictorian respectfully appealed to keep the speech unchanged. The speech also gave appropriate credit to his parents, teachers, as well as challenged his classmates to be a good influence in the lives of other people.

Richard Mast of Liberty Counsel says the school district ultimately permitted the student to keep all of his religious references intact whereby the valedictorian delivered a moving, faith-filled speech.

"This is helpful I think for not just him but for other students who are wondering about what their rights are, and it is pretty egregious that the district would want to have references lined out in this student's speech," says Mast.

A similar situation occurred in Maryland where another high school valedictorian with chronic medical conditions wanted to talk about how he found strength in God.

District officials returned the student’s speech with a heavy black line drawn through every mention of God and faith and told him it was a violation of the so-called separation of church and state.

Supreme Court backs religious liberty

That’s when the student and his parents reached out to Liberty Counsel, which contacted the school.

“Religious expression is not a ‘First Amendment orphan,’ and religious speech from graduating high school seniors is just as protected as their secular speech. Recent Supreme Court cases have conclusively held that the Establishment Clause does not permit censorship of private religious speech. Private speech in public places is protected,” writes Liberty Counsel.

"There's certainly hostility towards religious free exercise, Christianity in particular, out there and it's either ignorance or it's hostility," says Mast. "We prefer to believe that it's ignorance, but there are cases where it is hostility."

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