The tall middle school boy sits back in shock, the words of his art teacher ringing in his ears. A slight frown creases his face as the teacher dismisses his dream of drawing a cross. He remembers the prompt — “draw what brings you most joy” — and asks the teacher if she is sure.
She repeats her command: “No religious imagery is allowed.” The rest of the class looks on in stony silence. And so the boy sees his peers’ secular joy promoted while his religious joy is prohibited.
I heard about my brother’s art class incident on Jan. 29, 2026. At the time, I was driving to Des Moines, Iowa, to testify before the House of Representatives education subcommittee. My mother called me and shared that my brother had been prevented from drawing a cross on a middle school mural. It became clear that the school was sponsoring secular joy, but restricting Christian convictions.
Ironically, the bill I was speaking about — House File 2106 — focuses on the religious, political, and ideological speech of students in K-12 schools.
Scrapping most of what I had prepared, I simply shared my brother’s story. As I sat before a room of legislators and community members, the bill came alive. It ceased to be abstract political theory, and became a shield to protect students like my brother.
Make no mistake: the system is the problem—not the art teacher. She simply believed that public murals could not include religious expression. But a student’s doodle is not a school’s manifesto.
My brother, who is not a defenseless victim, knew that his private speech wouldn’t be mistaken for institutional speech. He knew that a small cross would not interfere with educational operations. He knew that his teacher could not constitutionally permit secular expressions of joy but discriminate against religious joy.
And so, my brother kindly, but firmly, pushed back against his teacher. Today, a small cross stands on the middle school wall as a testament to his conviction and to his Christ.
But this story is not just about my brother. It is not an anecdotal misunderstanding, but a systemic problem. A 2019 survey found K-12 teachers across the country unprepared to deal with issues of religion in schools (Herbstrith, et al., 2019).
When given a short quiz regarding students’ First Amendment rights, our nation’s educators returned a failing grade. On average, they answered more than half of the questions incorrectly. This knowledge gap led many of them to believe that the law was far more restrictive than it actually is.
Source: VidNews » Feed
