While Public Schools Teach Endless Depravity, This One Banned a Mere Bible Verse and Painting of a Shepherd

The article discusses a controversy at Rampart High School in Colorado Springs, where a senior student, Sophia Shumaker, was denied permission too paint her assigned parking spot with religious imagery, specifically a shepherd, a staff, a sheep, and a Bible verse (1 Corinthians 13:4). The school allows seniors to decorate their parking spaces but prohibits designs that are offensive, political, religious, or or else objectionable. Sophia’s proposed design was rejected, leading to claims that the school’s policy violates the First amendment’s guarantee of free religious expression.

Sophia, supported by the First Liberty Institute, is considering legal action against the school district for censorship of her religious expression. The article highlights the perceived inconsistency in the school’s policies, noting that other schools in the district allow faith-based imagery, while Rampart does not.It also contrasts the tolerance for other content in schools, such as LGBTQ-themed books and materials, with the rejection of Sophia’s Christian-themed design. The school district issued a cautious statement acknowledging the issue but did not provide further comments, while First Liberty institute demands that the school rescind its religious content ban and comply with constitutional protections.


You can read books like “Pride Puppy!” to kids in pre-K schools in some parts of the country, where a puppy goes to a gay pride parade and learns the meaning of words like “leather,” “intersex,” and “[drag] queen/king.”

Once you get up to the middle and high school levels, you can have prima facie pornography in the school libraries — provided it’s woke pornography, of course — and if you complain about it, you’re a bigot.

But have a student decorate her parking spot in a high school with a Bible verse and a painting of a shepherd, and suddenly, you have a problem.

According to KRDO, a senior at a Colorado Springs, Colorado, high school might be suing the district after she was denied the ability to paint her parking space with biblical imagery.

Rampart High School, the station reported, allows seniors to choose how to decorate their assigned parking spaces. From a letter to the district superintendent and school principal from First Liberty Institute, which is representing the senior:

Rampart High School has a tradition that encourages seniors, for a small fee, to reserve and decorate their school parking space as it “builds school spirit, beautifies [the] campus, and creates lasting memories.” The guidelines prohibit messages that the district deems, “offensive, negative, rude, gang-related, political, religious, or trademarked images.” The school’s guidelines also state that if a student’s first design is “deemed unacceptable” by the school, the student only has “one chance to change [the] design or forfeit [her] spot.”

Sophia Shumaker, KRDO reported, “requested to paint her parking space as a shepherd on a hill, a staff, and a sheep, along with a Bible verse.” Guess how that went over?

“Honestly, really upset because I’d been planning, like, this parking spot with, like, my best friend for forever, and then it just didn’t work out,” Shumaker said about the rejection.

“It was kind of like a piece of me was missing, and it almost felt like I had to, you know, kind of hide my faith in a way,” she added.

The rules do mention “no politically driven or religious items,” although this becomes problematic when you realize that it’s a public school and that the First Amendment applies.

There’s also the fact that, apparently, other schools in the district do allow students to have faith-related imagery on their parking spots, and picture the outrage if this had been an LGBT flag that had gotten nixed by the school district. KRDO and conservative media wouldn’t be the only people covering this, I assure you.

“It’s very confusing to see other people being able to express their faith. And then at your school, you can’t,” said Keisha Russell, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute.

It probably doesn’t help with public school apparatchiks that Shumaker said she’s doing it in part because of inspiration from assassinated conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk.

“Charlie Kirk has honestly changed my life, and he makes it so easy for me to want to go out and fight for what I believe in,” she explained.

Thus, First Liberty has thrown down the gauntlet. From their letter to the school and the superintendent:

Rampart High School’s censorship of religious references in Ms. Shumaker’s parking spot designs violates the First Amendment. We request that by no later than October 31, 2025, you rescind Rampart’s prohibition of religious references in Ms. Shumaker’s design, permit her to repaint her space with the shepherd, staff, and sheep, with the scripture reference “1 Corinthians 13:4” to her parking space and agree to fully rescind Rampart’s unconstitutional policy. We also recommend that the district provide Rampart’s staff with training about how the First Amendment applies in schools …

As for the school? It gave the usual mush-mouthed statement that it couldn’t say anything but was “aware” that, you know, something was going on.

“Academy District 20 is aware of an attorney letter regarding a Rampart High School student parking spot design. We do not comment on potential legal matters or individual student situations but confirm that we are reviewing the information provided,” the statement from the school district said.

“Although Academy District 20 was not contacted by a family or student about this concern and did not receive the attorney’s letter prior to Oct. 22, we can that Rampart High School’s senior parking-spot program is a school-sponsored activity with content guidelines and a staff approval process.”

1 Corinthians 13:4, by the way: ” Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant.” Some very offensive stuff there.

Meanwhile, inside the school, you can put as much pure pornography as you want in the classroom. Teach “Pride Puppy!” to 5-year-olds. Put litterboxes in the bathrooms for the furries. Make people respect pronouns or off to detention! Biblical wisdom and a shepherd, though? We can’t have that.

It’s a wonder God hasn’t smote us already, really.




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