Suspended Nova Scotia student defiantly wears T-shirt with pro-Jesus message
For the past six months, a yellow T-shirt with the slogan “Life is Wasted Without Jesus” has been just another shirt in William Swinimer’s wardrobe.
Lately, the 19-year-old Nova Scotian has worn it every single day since the vice-principal at his high school told him he couldn’t, that it was considered offensive, that it spewed, in his own words, “hate talk.”
Instead of peeling the shirt off like they wanted him to, Mr. Swinimer continued to wear it – straight through a series of in-school suspensions and straight through the five-day at-home suspension he’s currently serving.
When he comes back to class at Forest Heights Community School in Chester Basin, N.S., on Monday, he plans to wear it again – even if it means he could be suspended for the rest of the school year.
“I believe this is worth standing up for – it’s not just standing up for religious rights, it’s standing up for my rights as a Canadian citizen; for freedom of speech, freedom of religion. I don’t think this is right.”
