Some things, such as virginity and abstinence, are still sacred at Heritage Academy, a small Christian school in Maryland.
The school is under fire for upholding it’s Christian values by preventing a pregnant student from walking in the upcoming graduation ceremony.
The school’s board of directors agree that 18-year-old Maddi Runkles will still receive her diploma, but she won’t walk with the other virtuous students who practiced abstinence all year.
The board members called the teenager’s pregnancy “an internal issue about which much prayer and discussion has taken place.”
Despite the uproar and protests from pro-life groups and the leftist media, the board members are not likely to change their minds.
Ironically, the school board was led by Maddi’s father, a bank vice president who quit in anger over the way his daughter’s delicate situation was handled.
“Typically, when somebody breaks a rule, you punish them at the time they break the rule. That way, the punishment is behind them and they’re moving forward with a clean slate,” he said. “With Maddi, her punishment was set four months out. It’s ruined her senior year.”
The school board declined to make an exception for Maddi — lest half the student body show up pregnant for bible study classes next year.
“What would Jesus do?” asked Rick Kempton, chairman of the board of the Association of Christian Schools International.
“She’s making the right choice,” he said of Maddi’s decision not to have an abortion. “But you don’t want to create a celebration that makes other young ladies feel like, ‘Well, that seems like a pretty good option,” he added.
Photo illustration by wragg/Getty Images
