A school district in Washington state that told a student that she had “no choice” but to violate her Christian faith and had reached the “three strikes and you’re out” stage is getting sued over its anti-Christian ideologies.

The case is being handled by the American Center for Law and Justice, which identified the culprit district as Highline Public Schools, which has been the target of multiple demand letters over the years because of its viewpoint discrimination against a Christian student.

The ACLJ explained the latest offense:

On May 29, the entire student body – including our client – was marched into a mandatory assembly with no advance warning to parents. What followed was not a lesson in tolerance, but hours of moral instruction pressing students to celebrate ideas that directly conflict with our client’s Christian faith, complete with slides declaring that promoting these views meant “creating a moral standard” in the community. The Christian student began to cry. She asked to leave. A teacher, in an attempt to spare her from confrontation, told the assembly organizers that she needed to go to the restroom instead of disclosing her religious objection. When our client explained to another teacher that she was a Christian and simply didn’t want to go back in, she was told flatly: ‘You have no choice.’ She was sent back inside, where she sat in tears through the rest of the program, eyes averted from the screen.

The legal team cited the school’s reputation for misbehavior.

“We have sent three previous demand letters in previous years. Three chances for Highline Public Schools to correct course and cease the religious animus occurring within the school district. Each time, the district minimized, deflected, or simply denied wrongdoing,” it said.

Several years back when the girl was in second grade, “school officials searched her backpack – more than once – hunting for Bibles and religious materials. She was forced to go to the principal’s office repeatedly simply for talking about her faith at recess. The district eventually admitted it was wrong and promised, in writing, to let her exercise her faith freely going forward. That promise didn’t last,” the ACLJ pointed out.

The second incident of religious animus occurred earlier this year at Sylvester Middle School. “She was quietly handing out Gospel tracts between classes – always asking first, never pushing anyone who said no. Vice Principal Lori McEwen pulled her out of math class to shut it down. When she asked why other students could share their opinions but she couldn’t share her faith, McEwen’s answer was stunningly candid: Students may share opinions, she said, but not religious beliefs. When our client pointed out that classmates had just been allowed to leave campus for an ICE protest, McEwen explained it was fine – because that was merely an ‘opinion.'”

The federal case, now pending in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Washington, alleges violations of the First and 14th Amendments as well as the Washington state constitution.

Those issues involve free speech, free exercise of religion and the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.

WorldNetDaily had reported when the ACLJ’s latest demand letter was sent to the school.

“Rather than learning from its previous violations, the district has continued to target our client’s religious beliefs and disregard her constitutional rights. All of this taken together makes this latest episode all the more egregious – and a clear sign the district has no intention of stopping on its own,” the ACLJ said at the time.

The recent “inclusion” assembly demanded students adhere to beliefs that “conflicted with her family’s religious beliefs,” the ACLJ said.

And key was the fact that the parents never were told of the religious beliefs chosen by the school and delivered to the students.

“School officials knew exactly what her parents would have said because they had dealt with this exact issue before. They knew the family’s religious convictions. They knew the family had previously opted their daughter out of similar programming. Yet instead of providing notice and allowing the parents to make that decision, the district simply eliminated the notice and forced the child to attend.”

That’s evidence of “hostility” to religious faith, the legal team said.

Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is currently a news editor for the WND News Center, and also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Read more of Bob Unruh's articles here.