Picture this.
You are a 14-year-old honor student in your German high school class.
Through circumstances beyond your control the class discussion turns to the issue of religion and homosexuality.
You are a gospel and Bible-believing Christian, and during the course of the discussion you state your view that homosexuality is wrong.
As a result of your statement you receive a three-day suspension. Because you are intolerant.
This is exactly what happened at Western Hills High School in Texas. Student Dakota Ary was suspended for stating his view on a subject that perhaps should not even have been discussed in a German class.
He faced the possibility of missing lectures, tests, and a football game.
What would you do?
His family reached out to the Liberty Counsel for legal representation, and after a meeting with the lawyer, the school district rescinded the suspension. The school had no comment when contacted by the Christian Post.
This story paints a disturbing picture in our schools. We know that our colleges are infiltrated by anti-Christian, anti-American, atheistic faculty, but now it appears that our high schools are following suit.
The Liberty Counsel said that they are seeing this happening across the country, as the progressives pushing the gay agenda are becoming increasingly intolerant toward people who do not agree with their lifestyle.
The very people who preach tolerance are the most intolerant when it comes to differences based on morality, or when the name of Jesus is mentioned. They are perfectly okay with mentioning “god.” No one is upset with a generic “god.” But watch out if you bring to the table Jesus Christ, the God of the Bible…
Delight in Truth has previously pointed out that with respect to homosexuality and gay marriage the battle in society has been lost, but Christians must continue to be a voice for the truth. We must also continue to stand up for our constitutional rights to practice our faith, and hold to our opinions which are grounded in the Bible.
This is how can continue to shine a light in dark world.
Delight in Truth 
“What would you do?”
First I would try and find out what happened, objectively, in the class room.
Secondly, I would question why religion or homosexuality were brought up in a German class.
“But watch out if you bring to the table Jesus Christ, the God of the Bible…”
In a public school, which is meant to remain secular, that is the issue.
Unless you think it’s okay if people bring Allah and Mohammed to the table as well.
In a discussion on religion and homosexuality it is perfectly acceptable to bring Scripture to the discussion. Bible, Koran, etc.
I am not endorsing de-secularization of the the school system in the article.
This case has been reported in the media because the student was suspended for stating his opinion.
Is he entitled to his opinion in a classroom discussion?
I agree that one may wonder why it came up in German class, unless they happened to be practicing discussing news items in German conversationally. Marriage equality law changes are often in the news lately.
I believe the student could have avoided any controversy by the simple introduction, “According to my beliefs…” If he stated his position as unassailable fact without that qualification, he made an utterance that to me is disrespectful to any their who may hold different religious views, no religious views, or who might disagree on ethical, legal or other secular grounds despite being Christian.
I’m not an attorney, so I admit that’s only my unqualified opinion. I could easily imagine myself taking offense if I belonged to one of the groups I noted.
Thanks for the comment.
I am inclined to believe that he was not verbally or physically abuse since the school quickly rescinded the suspension…
If he made the statement “homosexuality is wrong” and provided religious or scriptural support for his statement, than I believe that was a fair thing to do, regardless of what others may think or accept. He is expressing religious beliefs.
But to suspend him for his stated belief?
I still think you owe it to your audience to qualify, to show basic respect for cultural and religious differences. I’m Christian, and I always do it. If you pre-acknowledge that others might not already share your beliefs, you keep the door open for discussion.
Yeah, suspension is probably an overreaction.
Yes Invisible Mikey, I agree 100%.
My point was to show the overreaction…
Chris,
What would you do if one of your members in your Church, when having a discussion, would tell you that he is gay, believes in gay and/or practices this occasionally and thinks there is nothing wrong with that..Let’s add to that and assume he is one of the leaders… What would you do, keep him a member/leader, expel him, publicly denounce him, etc? Most likely all of the above..and for good reasons–he does not fit the group he is in…
See, Chris, it’s hard for us to swallow, but this world is not ours–and we fit less and less in it… so the world has to exclude us b/c like the gay in your church, we dont fit in society anymore. What should we do?! Tough question. We have 2 options, maybe 3: praise God for the persecution, fight back for our rights in society, and/or a bit of both…Which one is the best option? That is a $64million question… We’re between a hard place and a rock more than we realize it
PS–I appreciate your stances on issues even when I argue with you and even though most often I disagree with you, in part usually.
Well the hypothetical issue is hypothetical at best.
But you do have a good point on the thing about the world excluding us because we do not fit in. Because we are not of the world… but we must be IN the world.
Jesus says that.
So we must continue to be IN the world.
And being IN the world we must do a “bit of both” like you say. I agree with you that we should not be doing revolutionary things like violent protests, boycotts, political activism to defend Scripture or scriptural views.
But we must defend our rights to share the gospel because the Bill of Rights gives us that right.
So when a kid gets suspended for proclaiming biblical truth even though no one agrees with him, HE SHOULD NOT get suspended, and when he does get suspended, we as a collective have to stand up for him.
At least for the sake of our constitution if not for the sake of the faith. This applies to everyone not just Christians.