Pro-life Message Silenced on Campus
A courageous Christian student speaks up to defend life and religious liberty.
Beth Sheeran believes in speaking the Truth. That’s why this former student at Spokane Falls Community College in Washington spearheaded her Christian student group’s pro-life event on campus. To expose the disregard for human life by proponents of the culture of death, Beth designed pro-life flyers and a campus display containing these startling facts and statistics about preborn children who are aborted:
Nine out of 10 Down’s Syndrome babies;
Sixty million female babies in Asian countries;
One out of two African-American babies are aborted
Before Beth and members of the Christian student group could share this potentially life-saving message, some college administrators decided to shut down the event. When Beth appealed their decision – which clearly violated the students’ constitutionally protected free speech rights – she was told that the college’s policy prohibits one-sided events and expressive displays on campus, and that the pro-life display would not be allowed because it did not include pro-abortion viewpoints.
In addition, Beth was also told that her flyer was “offensive” and “discriminatory,” and that the pro-life event violated the district’s “Stop the Hate” policy. College officials then threatened Beth and other members of the Christian student group with expulsion if they passed out the flyer or showed their display on campus.
“I knew that the abuse of authority would also shut doors to the Gospel, and that fear of disciplinary action would prevent many Christians from sharing their beliefs about issues like homosexual behavior and abortion.”
-Beth Sheeran
Beth knew that eventually someone would be disciplined or expelled for speaking the Truth and that the student’s punishment would intimidate others into silence. Knowing that something had to be done to protect life and religious liberty on her campus, Beth contacted the Alliance Defense Fund for legal help.
By God’s grace, and thanks to the generous financial support of Christians like you, the college district agreed to change its restrictive speech policies and restored the First Amendment-protected freedoms of all students on campus.
Reclaiming Religious Freedom with Your Support
Christian pro-life students, just like Beth, are being censored, discriminated against, and threatened with punishment for attempting to share their beliefs on public college and university campuses. Although universities claim to promote “diversity” and “tolerance,” nothing could be further from the truth – especially when it comes to Christian beliefs and values.
Just one year ago, the Alliance Defense Fund launched an unprecedented effort to restore religious freedom on public university campuses across America. By God’s grace, ADF and our more than 1,800 allied attorneys have already secured policy changes at more than 50 public universities – but there is still much work to be done. That’s why we are confronting the hostile campus environment head-on by aggressively challenging unconstitutional policies that censor or silence Christian students at hundreds of additional campuses across the country.
By supporting ADF, you can make it possible for more Christian students like Beth to boldly speak up and share the life-saving message of Jesus Christ on campus. Thanks to an incredible $3.3 million matching grant, your gift will be doubled today!
Have you ever been silenced or punished for sharing your beliefs on campus? ADF is here to protect your religious freedom. Contact our legal intake team today.
