Wanda is a teenage girl attending Central High School. She is not part of a gang and she’s very involved in her religion. In this case, the school however, intermixes those two things. You see, Wanda is part of the Wicca faith. Wicca is a pagan religion that celebrates the changes in nature and the seasons. It is recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court. Everyday when Wanda goes to school, she wears a Wiccan symbol around her neck, given to her by her parents. The symbol, is a five-pronged star inside of a circle, a pentagram. It’s symbolism is similar to the Cross that Christians support and the Star of David to the Jewish faith. It should be left at that. However, it is not. Some people associate this pentagram with devil worship and violence. It’s even associated with gangs! And that’s where the problem lies. At Center High School, a pentagram is considered a gang symbol. Midway through the year, the principal bans gang symbols due to the uprising of gang activity around the school lately. Also because these symbols have been used to …show more content…
And Wanda’s smart, so she calls a lawyer. He argues that by having to wear it under her clothes, it is prohibiting her religion. The Christians can still wear the cross, so why can she not celebrate her religion in the same way that they do? Because the principal of Wanda’s school is afraid of the danger it could potentially cause and he counters back, that as principal it his his job to protect the students of the school and maintain order. He also feels the pentagram is disruptive. This brings up some very good legal questions. Has the Center High School violated Wanda’s first amendment rights to freely express her religion? Do they have the constitutional rights to do that? My answer, is yes they have violated her rights, and no they can’t do