BONUS | Her Bible-Verse Parking Spot Was Banned … Then She Fought Back and Won | Sophia Shumaker & Keisha Russell

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey

Blaze Podcast Network

News, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, News Commentary

4.6 • 19.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Allie sits down with Colorado high school senior Sophia Shumaker and First Liberty attorney Keisha Russell after Sophia’s Bible-verse parking spot was censored. When the school banned “religious imagery,” Sophia painted a subtle backward fish — then fought back with First Liberty’s help. The district caved, changed the policy, and let her repaint it with her original design, which includes the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 13:4. This is a powerful reminder to be bold in your faith no matter your stage in life or occupation, be that a student or lawyer. Courage is contagious! Go to ⁠firstliberty.com⁠ to learn more about religious liberties and the rights you have as a Christian. Buy Allie's book "Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion": ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.toxicempathy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Timecodes: (00:00) Intro (04:35) Contacting First Liberty (13:45) Sophia's Christian Faith (16:40) Student and Parent Rights (26:10) Keisha's Legal Background (32:30) Advancing God's Kingdom --- Today's Sponsors: PreBorn — Would you consider a gift to save babies in a big way? Your gift will be used to save countless babies for years to come. To donate, dial #250 and say the keyword BABY or donate securely at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠preborn.com/allie⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. NetSuite — Every business is asking the same question: how do we make AI work for us? Right now, get our free business guide, Demystifying AI, at ⁠⁠netsuite.com/allie⁠⁠. --- Episodes you might like:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ep 1177 | Colorado Parents Will Lose Custody for 'Deadnaming' ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-1177-colorado-parents-will-lose-custody-for-deadnaming/id1359249098?i=1000704645676⁠ Ep 605 | Coach Kennedy & Today’s SCOTUS Hearings | Guests: Joe Kennedy & Jeremy Dys ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-605-coach-kennedy-todays-scotus-hearings-guests/id1359249098?i=1000558653220⁠ Ep 333 | SCOTUS Stands Up for Religious Liberty ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-333-scotus-stands-up-for-religious-liberty/id1359249098?i=1000501076057⁠ --- Buy Allie's book "You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love": ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.alliebethstuckey.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Relatable merchandise: Use promo code ALLIE10 for a discount: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, thank you all so much for joining me. And if you both could just say who you are and what you do.
0:14.0	My name is Sophia Shoemaker. I'm a senior at Rampart High School. Awesome. And I'm Keisha Russell. I'm Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute.
0:22.8	So let's talk about this case.
0:24.7	Let's talk about this story.
0:26.2	It involved a senior parking spot at your high school in Colorado, right?
0:30.9	Yeah.
0:32.0	So tell me a little bit more about the tradition.
0:34.3	You're painting or chalking this parking spot? Yeah, so each year the seniors get to
0:41.0	paint their own parking spot. They have to pay for it. And it's kind of just a little tradition they do
0:46.1	just to express themselves on their last year. Okay. And what did you choose to paint or to draw?
0:53.2	I originally wanted to choose the parable from Luke 15 of the shepherd in the 99 sheet, but then I kind of altered it to a backwards fish.
1:03.1	Okay, and tell me what does that symbolize?
1:05.8	The backwards fish is kind of what people in the Bible used to draw in the dirt when they couldn't really
1:12.1	talk about religion and they wanted to know if the other people were Christians.
1:16.7	So an Ixhas.
1:17.9	Yeah.
1:18.5	And was there a Bible verse or it was just that symbol?
1:21.1	No, it was just like a group of fish and then there was one fish swimming backwards.
1:25.8	Going the other direction, swimming upstream.
1:28.2	Yeah.
1:28.5	And were you the only one that did any kind of like Christian symbolism?
1:32.9	Well, we weren't actually allowed to do Christian imagery on our parking spaces, but I kind of snuck that one in there.
	...

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