Ben Daly, a high school student in Leakey, Texas is having trouble with his school district after refusing to cut his hair. It’s against his religious values as a Rastafarian, he says.

“We take citing from Old Testament, stating you’re not suppose to cut your hair,” Daly said.

Is it typical for schools to dictate acceptable hair length?

Superintendent Fred McNeil said Ben must follow the dress code like the other students. McNeil admitted Rastafarianism is a religion but needs the support of the school board.

I call bullshit on that, Mr. McNeil. If this student was Hindu or an Orthodox Jew with too-long hair, this would never have been an issue. This kid found trouble because some small-minded person in your administration had a problem with his fringe religion. They thought it was a joke and pushed their weight around. You could have smoothed things over and told them to leave the kid alone, but you didn’t.

This kid is going to sue your district for religious discrimination, and he’ll win.

The article can be found here.

Note to Ben: I’d like to suggest that you explore the other _astafarian religions. We would like to have you as a member. You can keep your hair however you like it.