MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A 10-year-old girl was told she couldn’t write about God for a school assignment.

Erin Shead, a student at Lucy Elementary, was assigned the task of writing about her idol. But apparently there was one idol students were banned from using.

When Shead decided she wanted to write about God, she was immediately chastised by her teacher.

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According to CBS Charlotte, the teacher told Shead she couldn’t use God as an idol and had to pick someone else for the assignment.

“But my teacher said I couldn’t write about God. She said it has something to do with God and God can’t be my idol,” Shead told her mother.

Not only was she forced to redo the project, but unlike the work of other students, Shead was told she couldn’t leave it at school and had to take it home.

“It was so cute and innocent. She talked about how God created the earth and how she’s doing the best she can,” Shead’s mother, Erica Shead, told WREG.

Instead of using the assignment she wrote about the ‘King of Kings,’ Shead chose to write about the ‘King of Pop,’ Michael Jackson, and of course that was acceptable to her teacher.

Upon hearing what happened to her daughter, Erica Shead went to the school principal and demanded an explanation.

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“How can you tell this baby, that’s a Christian, what she can say and what she can’t say?” Erica Shead said in the report.

A district spokesman said teachers can’t promote religion, but there is not a policy preventing students from writing assignments about any God or religion, the story reports.

Yesterday, Shelby County Schools issued a statement saying this was a “regrettable misunderstanding” and that the matter has been addressed at the school level.