MEDINA VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL CONGREGATION


Angela Hildebrand an 18 year old Valedictorian from Medina Valley High School has faced resistance regarding her desire to express her Christian beliefs in her valedictorian speech. The school district has also faced a lawsuit by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Initially the federal courts stated Ms. Hildebrand could not express her Christian views. A few days later this judgment was overturned.
The Conservative Christian Right and their radio supporters hailed this as a victory over the Liberal Atheist Left. I had the great fortune to be listening to WOAI's Clear Channel show hosted by Joe Paags. He was gloating Ms. Hildebrand had "earned the right to say what she wants". This was a common sentiment among Christian Right Wingers. Many feeling it was un-American and violated Ms. Hildebrand's right to free speech.
I am sure the Christian right wing free speech advocates would have had a very different view of Ms. Hildebrand's right to free speech if she had planned to thank Allah or her white supremacist upbringing or her Atheist beliefs or her Lesbian girlfriend or her Lord, Satan.
It would have been these same Christians who would have exhausted all legal and political means to censor Ms. Hildebrands speech. Freedom of speech is not just for those with which we agree. More importantly it is not the role of government, in this example the school district, to directly or indirectly support a specific religious viewpoint even if it that religious viewpoint is that of the majority. This principle is expressly written in the pocket-sized constitution carried by every responsible Christian right wing freedom-loving American.
As responsible freedom-loving Americans we must allow for the expression of all religious beliefs or there is truly no religious freedom. Yet this expression should never be endorsed directly or indirectly by the government. Endorsement by the government of a specific religion serves to erode true religious freedom. AMEN.

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