Godless securalists take Taunton! (Maybe)

Hey, did you hear the one about the Taunton special-needs student who was sent home and sent to a shrink after drawing a picture of Christ on the cross? Verily, the war on Christianity proceeds apace!

Unless it doesn't. Because the Globe's account--titled "Taunton schools rebut report on child's Jesus drawing"--is quite different from the aforementioned Herald story:

The story smacked of religious bias during the Christmas season: An elementary school allegedly suspended a second-grader, it went, and required the boy to undergo a psychological evaluation after he drew a picture of Jesus Christ on the cross.

But today, Taunton school officials challenged the account, first reported in the Taunton Daily Gazette and later repeated by the boy's father. The reports have created a media frenzy in this city south of Boston.

Julie Hackett, superintendent of Taunton Public Schools, said the student was never suspended and that neither he nor other students at the Maxham Elementary School were asked by their teacher to sketch something that reminded them of Christmas or any religious holiday, as the newspaper reported and the father suggested....

[Hackett] said the boy's drawing was seen as a potential cry for help when the student identified himself, rather than Jesus, as the figure on the cross, which sparked the teacher to alert the school's principal and staff psychologist. 

My hunch--which may be incorrect--is that the dad's story may not hold up. And I'm basing that on this graf from Globe reporter David Abel's story:

"It hurts me that they did this to my kid," Chester Johnson, the boy's father, told the Globe. "They can't mess with our religion; they owe us a small lump sum for this.''

Keep an eye on this one, folks.