Poem blasting God as a 'lie' given to middle schoolers. Then fed-up parents fire back.

The poem is titled "Unicorn," and it begins like this: "God is like a mythical creature / A unicorn with silver blood / If you drink the blood you will live forever / It makes a good story in a book like Harry Potter ..."

"Unicorn" goes on to declare that God "is revealed in all his foolishness / a naked lie / a childish dream / a mythical creature like the unicorn."

While not a particularly deep or unusual piece of writing, the problem is that the poem was distributed to middle school students at a Georgia public school last week — and parents are up in arms about it.

Teachers at Cedartown Middle School said the poem was used for a sixth-grade Greek mythology lesson to show how a unicorn is supposed to represent a happy and safe place, WAGA-TV reported.

But while the poem's title is indeed "Unicorn," the subject matter instead takes direct aim at God —  and now school officials are apologizing.

"We just admitted this was a mistake," Principal Shannon Hulsey told the station. "In no way whatsoever would we want to defame God or go anywhere in that direction here at the school."

A statement from the school said district officials met with concerned parents Thursday.

Hulsey said that one of the language arts teachers — who's been teaching for more than 20 years — had a folder full of materials and that the "Unicorn" poem was pulled from it.

"We're not exactly sure where it came from [or] who even put it in the pile of materials," the principal added to WAGA.

Possible origin

"Unicorn" makes an appearance in a 2013 collection of poems titled "Reflections on God Islam and Life." The author of the collection — "Johar Mohammad, aged 14-15" — indicates that "Unicorn" is among a number of poems penned by other teenagers.

While Mohammad notes in the introduction that he's a "practicing Muslim," he adds that "Unicorn" (written by "Kiefer") comes from an atheist perspective.

Polk School District Superintendent Laurie Atkins didn't immediately reply Wednesday morning to TheBlaze's questions regarding if the "Unicorn" poem was accessed from the "Reflections on God Islam and Life" collection or from another source.

(H/T: Todd Starnes)