High School Officials Pull the Plug on Valedictorian Because of Religious Content of Her Speech-Truth!

Summary of the eRumor: A story of Brittany McComb, a Nevada teen who was valedictorian of her high school graduating class. The text of her speech had been edited by both the school administration and the ACLU and she was told to remove references to the Bible and to Christ that were in her remarks. When the time came for her speech, however, she left them in and the P.A. microphone was cut off just before she said the word "Christ."

The Truth: The story is true and the text of the eRumor is from a release by the American Family Association, which asked for names to be added to a petition to protest the action by school officials. The incident took place at Foothill High School in Henderson, Nevada, which is part of the Clark County School District. According to an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal on June 17, 2006, the school officials felt they were on good ground to kill the microphone. They had reviewed the speech. told McComb that it went across the line, and had warned her what would happen if she disregarded them. They wouldn't object to a reference to religion in McComb's speech, but they said that her text was preaching her religion and amounted to proselytizing. Her speech included scripture references, nine mentions of God, two mentions of the Lord, one mention of Christ, and a phrase, according to the article, that talked about "God's love being so great that he gave his only son to suffer an excruciated death in order to cover everyone's shortcomings and forge a path to heaven." The administration said that if they had allowed the speech as written it would have violated court decisions against school sponsored advocacy of religion. McComb, who is scheduled to attend Biola University in California in the Fall, said she thought about it and decided that the logic and freedom of speech she had been taught at the school should apply to her graduation address as well. Updated 6/22/06

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

Brittany McComb was the valedictorian at Foothill High School recently. She graduated with a 4.7 GPA. She earned the right to address the other graduates at Foothill, located in Henderson, Nevada. She gave a copy of her graduating speech to the school administrators. It contained some Biblical references and even mentioned (one time) the name “Christ.” The school administrators censored some of the Biblical references. They also censored the single reference to Christ. Then the school officials handed the speech over to the ACLU for approval and/or more censoring. After getting the OK from the ACLU, Brittany’s speech (minus the censored references to the Bible and Christ) was approved. Brittany was warned that if she deviated from the ACLU approved language, her mike would be cut off. Then came the moment for the big decision. She would not bow down, she decided. She would go with her original version. She stepped to the mike and began her speech. But just before she could utter the name “Christ,” her mike went dead. School officials silenced her. The crowd of 400 jeered for several minutes, angry at the action of the school officials. The ACLU was happy. They had silenced another Christian. “I went through four years of school at Foothill and they taught me logic and they taught me freedom of speech. God’s the biggest part of my life. Just like other valedictorians thank their parents, I wanted to thank my lord and savior,” Brittany said. Because she refused to bow down to the ACLU’s idol of gold, she did not get her wish. She was censored. This young heroine deserves praise and a thank you from those who believe in free speech.

from:truthorfiction.com