The faith of a child is precious to God. Luke 18:17 states, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” In a column at PJ Media, disturbed father John Ellis recounted a recent occurrence his second-grade son experienced in school.
The little boy excitedly wanted to share with his classmates what he had been reading in his treasured Bible about Daniel during show and tell. Sadly, his teacher prohibited him from doing so. According to Ellis, the teacher’s abrupt behavior left his son both disappointed and confused.
In the column, the Christian father revealed that his son attends school in the Arlington County, Virginia public school system. Ellis labeled the region as “One of the most progressively leftist communities in the country.” As evidence, Ellis’s neighborhood is littered with yard signs reading “Love trumps hate!” He proclaimed that those who don’t accept that boys can be girls and girls can be boys can expect to be scolded. Due to his son’s tender age, Ellis reported that he is largely unaware that he is an outsider in the place where he lives. But, the little boy’s father regretfully wrote that the recent situation in the classroom put a dent in his son’s innocence.
After discovering that his son took his Bible to school, Ellis inquired of him, “What happened?” The second-grader replied, “The teacher stopped me from speaking and went on to the next person. I didn’t get to tell them about Daniel.”
“You see, my son had been reading the book of Daniel and wanted to tell his friends about it,” Ellis said. “It was important to him. What he didn’t realize is that the Bible, no matter how important to his identity, is verboten in the brave new world of progressive tolerance.”
The concerned father went on to add, “The Bible and those who take God’s Word seriously are not allowed a platform in leftist America. My son learned that the hard way last Tuesday. His disappointment is only eclipsed by his confusion as to why his teacher wouldn’t let him finish.”
Keenly illustrating the double standard at American educational institutions, Ellis mentioned another student’s recent experience in the Virginia public school system. Last summer, the parents of an incoming ninth-grade student told the school district in West Point, Virginia that their daughter thinks she is a boy. The district quickly jumped into action to ensure the student’s desired identity was honored. Earlier this month, Peter Vlaming, a high school French teacher, was fired for not using the pronoun this transgender student preferred to be called.
Ellis aptly said, “It’s stunning to consider the contrast between the hyperbolic language and extreme actions taken to ensure that one child’s identity is catered to, and how my son was swiftly shut down when he wanted to briefly talk about a part of his identity that’s important to him. It’s also frightening.”
Ellis maintained that no other child in his son’s classroom would have been required to listen to or care about what his son said if he had been allowed to read his Bible. The Christian father explained that his little boy’s classmates “most definitely wouldn’t have been under any compulsion to agree with the Bible or convert.”
Comparing this truth to the case of the transgender girl, Ellis wrote, “if a girl believes that she is a boy, it’s not enough to allow her to believe what she wants; others are required to accept and promote her belief, even if it violates their own faith identity.”
Despite their protestations to the contrary, Ellis contended liberals have “zero interest in allowing people to express themselves.”
“Protecting important aspects of a person’s identity is not universal,” he concluded. “That protection only extends to the ideology that the left wants to promote.”
Pray for Ellis’s son and others in American public schools who are being led to believe their faith is harmful and who, like Vlaming, are being forced to accept things that go against their beliefs.
~ 1776 Christian
