FORT MEYERS, Fla. – A Florida teen alleges he was suspended for two days after school officials deemed his rosary “gang-related” and he refused to remove it while in class.

NBC 2 reports officials at Gateway Charter School asked student Christopher Roberts three times to remove a rosary and the teen was resolute in his response.

“It’s not happening,” he said. “I’m not going to take it off.”

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Roberts was taken in by is now mother Shannon a few months ago after a troubled childhood, and she introduced him to Catholicism to help him find his bearings. She said Roberts took the religion to heart, and has since kept a rosary with him at all times.

“He came from a difficult background, and when children come from difficult backgrounds, they cling to faith,” Shannon said, adding she expected he would bring the rosary to school.

“That’s what he has in the middle of chaos in his world,” she told the news site. “So no, I’m not surprised. I support him for wanting to have that right.”

School officials allege the rosary constitutes a dress code violation, and they asked Roberts to either tuck it in his shirt, or remove it, but he repeatedly refused.

“I think he could have been more diplomatic,” Shannon said, “but yes, I am proud of him.”

Roberts said Gateway officials cited several reasons the rosary violates the school’s dress code, including prohibitions against “jewelry that could likely cause injury,” “apparel or symbols that may be gang-related,” and a ban on adornments that “could cause injury, be a safety risk or cause a disruption …,” NBC 2 reports.

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“Do I look like a gang member to you? Do I look like somebody who runs around with tattoos and guns and sells drugs?” Roberts questioned. “No, I’m doing it strictly for my faith.”

Gateway officials denied the claim they cited “gang-related” attire as cause for the suspension, and pointed to the Lee County Public School Code of Conduct that prohibits items that may cause injury, though rosaries are not specifically mentioned in the code, according to the news site.

Several Catholics who posted to Facebook took offense that Roberts was wearing the rosary in the first place, while other commenters believe school officials shouldn’t have forced him to remove the symbol of his faith.

“This offends me as a Catholic, not because the school imposed a non-jewelry policy, but because the rosary isn’t jewelry,” Michelle Castagliuolo Ricci wrote. “It’s insulting for someone to desecrate our holy rosary by using it to make a political stand, in the name of Catholicism.

“He ought to be educated on the religion to which he desires to belong,” she added. “His mother should be ashamed, not proud for him standing up for himself. Catholics don’t display their piety so flamboyantly. He isn’t being taught properly.”

“Wear a crucifix instead,” Kerri Goldsmith posted. “Rosary beads are meant for keepin your place when praying the Rosary, not to be warn. I wonder if this teenager has ever actually prayed the Rosary.”

“Wearing a crucifix is a better symbol. A rosary is not to be worn as a necklace. That is not respecting the rosary. There is also a scapula which is worn after Confirmation of Faith in the Catholic Church. That would lie flat against his chest and back under his shirt as it should be. I understand what he is trying to convey, and I applaud his faith, but there are many other ways to hold true to your beliefs without breaking a dress code,” Vicki Ullemeyer wrote.

Regardless of the proper way to display the rosary, Dana Lehman-Johnson thinks the incident is “absolutely inexcusable on behalf of the charter school!

“I am both appalled and ashamed of them,” she wrote, “and the parents and children should be as well.”

“Shame on you,” Michelle Kreager-Ringsmuth added. “This young man has EVERY right to express his faith.”