Chris Stovall: Easter OK, Christmas No Way
The absence of logic on church and state issues in the militantly secularist crowd is truly amazing sometimes. In today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch, there is an article regarding the Francis Howell School Board’s divided and apparently controversial vote to restore the traditional name “Christmas Break” to the official school holiday period more recently known as “Winter Break.” The story notes a rather puzzling distinction raised by some opposed to the name change: Easter OK, Christmas No Way — So Much for Secularist Logic:
The district already has an Easter break, but board members who opposed Thursday’s decision to change the name of “Winter Break” back to “Christmas Break” have said before that the break doesn’t pose the same problems. That break is limited to Good Friday and Easter Monday, unlike the winter break, which lasts several weeks and often encompasses other holidays, such as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Ramadan.
So let me get this straight. It constitutes a grave violation of the First Amendment to name a multi-week public school break using the name of a holiday historically celebrated by the vast majority of the students for two days during that period. The violation occurs, because other minority religious groups also happen to receive an accommodation since they commonly celebrate holidays during that multi-week period. But, it presents no First Amendment problem to have an official break that bears the name of a religious holiday celebrated by only one faith. Even though that official break, unlike the Christmas break, is actually more narrowly tailored to a specific religious holiday (i.e. Easter is always on Sunday, a non-school day, so the Monday is essentially an “observance” of it!). Additionally, no official school breaks are recognized for other faiths that might have holidays around the same time (e.g. Passover).
Chris Stovall
Sr. Legal Counsel
ADF Marriage Litigation Center