{"id":13313,"date":"2025-06-20T16:05:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T20:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=13313"},"modified":"2025-06-20T16:05:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T20:05:47","slug":"texas-school-reverses-course-on-sharing-bible-verses-in-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/06\/texas-school-reverses-course-on-sharing-bible-verses-in-school.html","title":{"rendered":"Texas School Reverses Course on Sharing Bible Verses in School"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_13316\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13316\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13316\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2025\/06\/Bible-verses-School_credit-Left-ACLJ-Right-Adobe-Stock.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13316\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: ACLJ | Right: Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A Texas school has reversed its decision prohibiting a special needs student from sharing Bible verses with peers. According to the American Centers for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the principal and a teacher at Killeen School District in Killeen, Texas confiscated slips of paper containing Bible verses that a special needs student was handing out to her peers. The ACLJ alleged that on May 12, Phylicia Miner, the principal at Cedar Valley Elementary, took the slips of paper from the student after initially being allowed to share them. On May 15, the school\u2019s principal informed the student\u2019s mother that school policy, \u201cprohibits all distribution of religious material on school property at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In response, ACLJ sent a <a href=\"https:\/\/aclj.org\/religious-liberty\/aclj-demand-letter-on-behalf-of-5th-grade-student-in-killeen-tx\">demand letter<\/a> to the district. The letter reminded the school that, \u201cWhile school officials may apply \u2018reasonable regulation[s] [to] speech-connected activities in carefully restricted circumstances,\u2019 they may not censor student expression unless the speech \u2018impinge[s] upon the rights of others\u2019 or creates a material and substantial disruption to the school\u2019s ability to fulfill its educational goals.\u201d The letter referenced <em>Tinker vs Des Moines Independent Community School District<\/em>, which ruled that students are permitted to share religious beliefs during non-instructional time. The ACLJ gave the district until May 22<sup>nd<\/sup> to correct the issue or be faced with legal action.<\/p>\n<p>On the day of the deadline, the district relented and permitted the student to distribute the slips of paper. \u201cIn response to your letter, I have personally spoken with the principal at Cedar Valley Elementary. I discussed with the principal that a student may distribute religious material during non-instructional time, when the distribution does not interfere with work in the classroom,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/aclj.org\/religious-liberty\/aclj-response-letter-regarding-5th-grade-student-in-killeen-tx\">wrote<\/a> Mike Harper, the district\u2019s general counsel. He assured that, \u201cThe principal assured me that she understood and confirmed that [KISD] Board policy will be followed in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow <a href=\"https:\/\/aclj.org\/religious-liberty\/5th-grade-special-needs-student-has-bible-verses-confiscated-at-school-aclj-is-coming-to-her-defense\">called the change<\/a> a \u201cmajor win.\u201d \u201cPublic schools are actively attacking our children\u2019s religious liberties, suppressing their Christian faith,\u201d he stated, detailing how the student was initially told she could distribute the slips of paper, only to be told otherwise. Sekulow also objected to any assertions by the school that the student had tried to distribute her slips of paper during instructional time. Sekulow stated that the school had assured them that both the principal and student fully understood their student\u2019s constitutional rights. \u201cThis is not just a win for one student \u2013 it\u2019s a victory for every student\u2019s right to live out their faith,\u201d wrote Sekulow. \u201cWe\u2019re proud to have stood by her and grateful to see her rights affirmed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Texas school has reversed its decision prohibiting a special needs student from sharing Bible verses with peers. According to the American Centers for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the principal and a teacher at Killeen School District in Killeen, Texas confiscated slips of paper containing Bible verses that a special needs student was handing out&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":13316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Texas School Reverses Course on Sharing Bible Verses in School<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Texas school reversed its Bible verse ban after legal pressure, allowing a special needs student to share her faith.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/06\/texas-school-reverses-course-on-sharing-bible-verses-in-school.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas School Reverses Course on Sharing Bible Verses in School\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Texas school reversed its Bible verse ban after legal pressure, allowing a special needs student to share her faith.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/06\/texas-school-reverses-course-on-sharing-bible-verses-in-school.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ News Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-20T20:05:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta 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