A fifth-grade girl’s right to sing a song with religious content was successfully defended in California by the Rutherford Institute. Jessica Otto, a student at Foulks Ranch Elementary School in Elk Grove, Calif., sang a religious song during a talent show try-out.
PTA officials told her that she could not sing the song because it referred to “Jesus,” and school officials created a new policy banning religious content from the talent show.
The Rutherford Institute’s Brad Dacus contacted the school superintendent to explain the girl’s religious rights, and the following day the school district superintendent told Jessica that she was free to sing the song of her choice.
“These actions against Jessica were apparently the result of simple ignorance of the law,” noted Dacus. “Nonetheless, such actions of anti-religious censors can have a major chilling effect upon the free speech rights of children.”
— E.P. News
