Phxt Faith Stands Tall: After being told she couldn’t paint her parking spot with a message of faith, a Colorado student refused to give up—and won.Now, she’ll be allowed to proudly repaint it to reflect her Christian beliefs.“I wasn’t trying to make a statement,” she said softly. “Christianity is my whole identity. It’s who I am—and I just wanted to share that.”
A Colorado high school student who challenged her school’s ban on religious designs for senior parking spaces will now be allowed to repaint her space to reflect her Christian faith.
In August, Sophia Shumaker, a senior at Rampart High School in Colorado Springs’ Academy School District 20, requested permission to decorate her paid parking space with a design illustrating Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep.
The school has a tradition of allowing seniors to reserve and pay for their own parking space and decorate it with school-approved artwork.
Shumaker’s design featured a shepherd, a staff and sheep, along with a reference to the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 13:4. But school administrators rejected it, citing a district policy prohibiting religious imagery. Shumaker said she was forced to choose a different design, which she found deeply disappointing given the importance of her faith.
