This is making the rounds now. Kid at Liberty High School in South Carolina rips up his valedictorian speech and recites the Lord’s Prayer.

They’re calling him a hero, of course. But, as my friend Marty Levine points out, “The quote in the article saying the kid showed courage missed it completely. It takes very little courage to publicly espouse a Christian view in the Bible Belt. Had he stood up for separation of church and state and used his address to explain the need to protect the standing of religious minorities? That would have been an act of courage.”

My take . . . Marty nailed it. The kid had a legal right to do what he did and definitely should not be disciplined by the school system. Fact is, they’d be making him a martyr for the religious right if they tried to discipline him. But I also think the kid has no regard whatsoever for his fellow students and the people in the crowd who don’t share his religious views.

This was nothing to be proud of.