Legal Group to 13,000 School Districts: Christmas IS Constitutional

by Bethany Monk, CitizenLink: A Christian legal group sent a letter Wednesday to more than 13,000 school districts across the country reminding officials that students are allowed to celebrate Christmas.

This comes just after a small charter school in South Carolina cancelled its Operation Christmas Child project after a group sent a threatening letter.

“Schools shouldn’t have to think twice about whether they can celebrate Christmas,” said Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “School districts can and should allow religious Christmas carols to be part of their school productions, and they can lawfully help impoverished children through community service projects such as Operation Christmas Child.”

Renee Mathews, principal of East Point Academy in Columbia, S.C., told Fox News she had no choice but to halt the project. The American Humanist Association, in its letter, claims the academy’s involvement with Operation Christmas Child is unconstitutional.

ADF’s memo underscores the rights of schools and students to participate in community service projects sponsored by faith-based organizations.

“Public schools’ confusion about this issue and the legalities of celebrating Christmas in other ways has been largely caused by inaccurate information about the Establishment Clause,” according to the ADF letter.

It cites examples of school districts in Wisconsin and New Jersey that wrongly censored Christmas carols, but then changed their positions in response to public outcry and letters

ADF has available on its website a Christmas and Public Schools Myth/ Fact sheet. It outlines the religious freedom protections of students and teachers.

“The Constitution both allows and protects the celebration of Christmas in public schools,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “We hope the materials we are providing to school districts will help clear up the misinformation.” . . . [More Info Links]

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