On The Front Lines
The Rutherford Institute Issues 'Twelve Rules of Christmas' Guidelines for Thanksgiving, Christmas Holiday Celebrations
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va--In response to a growing tendency among public schools, government officials and even private businesses to ban references to Christmas or Christianity during the holiday season, The Rutherford Institute is making available guidelines regarding what can and cannot be done to celebrate the holidays. "The Twelve Rules of Christmas" are available here."Whether through ignorance or fear, Americans are painfully misguided about the recognition of religious holidays," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "For example, every year we hear many complaints from parents about school officials banning any reference to the word 'Christmas.' There is an irrational bias against anything remotely religious unless it's sanitized and secularized, and unfortunately far too many parents, students and teachers erroneously believe they cannot do anything to celebrate Christmas in the public schools."
Whitehead referenced several incidents involving misguided attempts to censor expressions of Christmas. For example, last year Institute attorneys intervened in a situation in which a Florida elementary school omitted songs about Christmas from its holiday concert program while including songs celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the "winter season." Institute legal staff addressed the school's fear of violating the so-called "separation of church and state" by pointing out that not only does the First Amendment's Establishment Clause not mandate that all Christian religious references be banished from the classroom, but that the school's conspicuous exclusion of Christmas from the program was in itself a violation of the Establishment Clause. Incidents of censorship of Christmas in past years are equally reflective of the misunderstanding over the separation of church and state. For example, city officials in Tillamook, Ore., acting on a citizen complaint, ordered the removal of a Nativity display at a drive-thru espresso stand because the owner leased the property from the city. The city manager justified the order by saying, "It appeared to be a conflict between church and state." According to a Michigan parent, an elementary school music teacher, acting on instructions from the school principal, eliminated the word "God" from all songs in her school's holiday concert. Children were instructed to be silent rather than say "God" whenever the word appeared in the music. In one Florida county, government officials are reported to have ordered the removal of Christmas trees from county-run libraries, recreation centers, community centers and other public areas until they could resolve concerns about religious holiday displays at public facilities. Institute attorneys also point to misunderstandings over acknowledging or thanking God at Thanksgiving. For example, last year, the Capital News Service reported that "Maryland public school students are free to thank anyone they want while learning about the 17th century celebration of Thanksgiving--as long as it's not God." In a separate matter, a third grader had her comments censored from the Thanksgiving edition of the school paper after she stated that she was thankful for living in a country where she could choose her religion. Institute attorneys report that the school's principal was under the mistaken belief that printing the child's statement in the paper might violate the Establishment Clause.
Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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