In the ongoing fight to protect religious freedom, critics often argue that the only religion conservatives really seek to protect is that of evangelical, protestant Christians, since 25% of religious Americans subscribe to that faith. This isn’t the case: Not only is the point of religious freedom to protect people of all faiths — or people of no faith — but sometimes, people practicing more obscure religious beliefs face are the ones most in need of religious freedom protections.

On Thursday, a federal court made a decision that grants a Texas family’s request for a religious accommodation. Two boys will now be permitted to keep a strand of hair uncut and braided as a sign of faith despite it violating their public school’s dress code, allowing them to participate in extracurricular sports while the case proceeds.

In Gonzales v. Mathis Independent School District, brothers Cesar and Diego Gonzales have been barred for the past two years from playing on their school’s football team or participating in academic clubs because of a religious promise they have kept since birth, keeping a strand of hair long and braided. This tradition has deep roots in Mexican Catholicism, even if the practice isn’t common in the United States.

Although the school’s dress code forbids male students from having hair past the collar, the school district granted an exemption to the boys from kindergarten through sixth grade, and they participated in school activities with no problem. But when they entered seventh grade in 2017 at Mathis Middle School, Cesar and Diego Gonzales were told that their religious practice would no longer be accommodated. They are now freshmen at Mathis High School.

“After two years of needless bullying of students of faith, it’s now clear that the school district is breaking the law,” said Montserrat Alvarado, vice president and executive director at Becket, who was involved in the case. “Mathis Independent School District should stop this foolish fight and do the right thing.”

The family was counseled by Kirkland & Ellis attorney Jamie Aycock and Corpus Christi attorney Frank Gonzales.

Due to this week’s ruling, the boys can keep their hair and play sports. The court invited the parties to submit additional evidence and said that it will issue a more “detailed order” soon.

Becket counsel Luke Goodrich explained the significance of this important case to our nation’s founding premise: “This is why we have religious freedom laws. Public schools should respect students' religious beliefs. And these boys should be commended, not punished, for faithfully keeping a religious vow for over 14 years.”

In Cesar Gonzales’s infancy, his parents made a religious vow never to cut a strand of his hair if he was healed from meningitis. He was healed, and he and his brother have kept the vow ever since. This kind of “promesa” has deep roots among Mexican Catholics. 2/ pic.twitter.com/AWAH8MTB0r — Luke Goodrich (@LukeWGoodrich) September 5, 2019

While evangelical Protestants do make up a quarter of the religious people in the United States, the Constitution rightly insists that people of all faiths and no faith enjoy freedom here. That means protecting kids who practice more obscure religious traditions, even if they are only familiar to specific religious sects.

Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.

Correction: A previous version of this piece said the family was represented by The Becket Fund. The Becket Fund was involved in the case, but not as legal representation. Kirkland & Ellis attorney Jamie Aycock represented the family with attorney Frank Gonzales from Corpus Christi, Texas.