Nope, not Bob Jones this time, for which making national news is fairly commonplace.
Heritage Christian School in Findlay, OH, a ministry of Calvary Baptist Church and the small school where I attended from kindergarten through 12th grade, has been getting a lot of unwarranted bad press over the last few days for suspending a senior who knowingly and willingly disobeyed schools rules—ones he and his parents had agreed to abide by—by attending the local public high school’s prom with his “girlfriend” (in a video interview, the girl said that they’d been dating for all of “a week and a day”).
The story was picked up by a number of news sources:
- The Courier: “Don’t go to prom, school tells teen” (also at Yahoo: “Ohio Christian school tells student to skip prom” and MSNBC “Christian school tells boy to skip prom” via AP)
- Fox Toledo: “Trip to prom could cost student” (a couple of videos)
- WTOL: “Footloose in Ohio: Teen suspended for attending prom” (a couple of videos)
- Fox News: “Christian Ohio School Threatens to Suspend Student If He Goes to Prom“
- Daily Telegraph: “Christian teen faces suspension for going to girlfriend’s prom“
One of the videos is on YouTube and is embedded below.
http://www.youtube.com/v/VUON8zvBGUg
Heritage has posted an official response on their website. I won’t take the time to offer any thoughts, but will instead just point you to Chris Anderson’s characteristically helpful post.
HT: Valerie Adams (my little sis) and Sharper Iron (via Andy Naselli)
Samuel Sutter says
wow, small world, i def saw that online. Yeah, i think Chris did a better job at defending the school than the school itself. –
Mark Ward says
I found myself praying for Tyler, who at 17 runs the risk of thinking himself far more important and wise than he really is.
The responses and arguments of the students at Findlay High and in the media reveal how sacrosanct Choice is in America.
mlwj
robert says
The comments on secular sites about this story illustrate the state of “Christianity” today…it’s all about what this boy wants, how the school is unfair and how these restrictive Pharisaical morals are out of date.
One person even said that Jesus would not have told the boy that…huh? you mean the same Jesus who said just looking with lust was adultery?
Patricia Prigge Chaffee says
Read your suggested comment and I agree 100%.
Patricia Prigge Chaffee says
Read your suggested comment, and I agree 100%.