A 10-year-old North Carolina girl is publicly shaming the Disney Channel after the network said her thanking God on its website was tantamount to profanity.
Lilly Anderson of Angier, North Carolina, was online Sunday for her birthday answering the Disney Channel’s question about what she was thankful for.
“God, my family, my church and my friends,” Lilly wrote.
But her answer was not allowed to appear.
Instead, a message written in red popped up on the screen reading, “Please be nice!”
Lilly then summoned her mother, Julie Anderson, to alert her about the problem.
“It was Lilly’s idea alone to include God in her post,” Julie told Todd Starnes of Fox News. “As a matter of fact, she was in another room from me, and she came and got me when it wouldn’t allow her to post.”
The family tried entering a variety of words and determined it was the term “God” that was being precluded.
“We’ve always told her that inevitably there would come a day when she would be discriminated against for her faith, but we never thought Disney would be the source,” Julie said.
Both Lilly and her mom appeared on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning to discuss the issue.
“They made me feel a little bit bad because I couldn’t write it, ’cause God’s the reason that we have all the stuff that we have,” Lilly told program host Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
Julie added, “I just don’t want children to feel like there’s something wrong or there’s something they should be ashamed of in sharing their faith with their peers.”
Responding to a Fox request for an explanation, Disney said Lilly’s original post was blocked “because so many people attempt to abuse the system and use the word ‘God’ in conjunction with profanity, in an abundance of caution, our system is forced to catch and prevent any use of the word on our website.”
Watch the Fox News interview:
[jwplayer oD72ZzoT]
Julie Anderson responded to Disney’s explanation, saying, “In a way, it’s understandable what they’re trying to prevent, but a big red message that tells a child that it’s not nice to be thankful for God might not be the best way to handle that.”
“I want my daughter, and all children of faith, to know that it is OK to share God and Jesus with their peers,” Julie said. “I want her to know that she doesn’t have to be silent about her faith. I want her to be strong and soldier on.”
