A middle school in Missouri dismissed claims of denying 12-year-old student, Loyal Grandstaff, the right to read his Bible in school. Grandstaff said earlier this month that he had taken out his Bible to read during some free time, while still in class, and his teacher allegedly told him to put it away. However, Bueker Middle School’s principal Lance Tobin spoke to the media last week, saying he investigated the incident to discover Grandstaff’s claims were completely false.

“The incident was never validated,” Tobin said, adding that the story had originally emerged in local media. “Fox 4 News ran the report before we had the chance to look into the incident ourselves.”

On January 5, Grandstaff, who is a seventh-grader, told the media he would like to read the Bible because it is a good book. Additionally, he complained about his teacher telling him the Scripture was not allowed in school.

“I was just reading because I had free time. A time to do what I wanted to, so I just broke it out and read,” he said.

Grandstaff’s father substantiated the student’s claim, saying his teacher’s objection was in fact ridiculous.

“There's kids walking around disrespecting their teachers, kids walking around cussing and everything else, and they're practically getting into no trouble at all,” he said. “I feel like it violated his freedom of religion but also his freedom of speech.”

Tobin had responded immediately after the story emerged in the media, saying the school has never banned the Bible.

Traditionally, the law has been on the side of the students in such cases, as long as a student is not reading the Scripture during the same time that he or she should be participating in class instead.

Photo Credits: Young Conservatives