MISSOURI (WDAF) – The parents of a middle school student are upset because they say a teacher told their 12-year-old son he could not read his Bible in school. The parents say their son’s constitutional rights were violated.
Loyal Grandstaff’s parents say they’re taking a “grand stance” to protect their son’s freedom of religion.
Loyal says he loves reading his Bible and decided to bring it to school before the Christmas break. That way, he could read it during his spare time. But the seventh grader said his teacher told him it wasn’t permitted.
“I like to read my Bible because it’s a good book,” Loyal said.
He said he wasn’t reading out loud and said he wasn’t sharing scripture with his classmates.
“I was just reading, just reading because I had free time. A time to do what I wanted to, so I just broke it out and read,” he explained.
“I feel like it violated his freedom of religion but also his freedom of speech,” Loyal’s dad, Justin Grandstaff, said.
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