AR: Nativity scene causes controversy | Paragould Daily Press

Paragould Daily Press: He provided the Daily Press with several memos from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) stating that a nativity scene displayed in a public school does not violate the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. According to the ADF web site, the ADF is America’s largest legal alliance defending religious liberty through strategy, training, funding and litigation. The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause states that “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.” One of the ADF memos states “this provision is often misunderstood as prohibiting seasonal religious expression in public schools. Many school officials mistakenly believe such expression would violate the so-called ‘separation of church and state’ — a phrase not found in the Constitution, but often misused in connection with the Establishment Clause.” [more] | ADF Memo: Constitutional Rights of Students, Teachers, and Public Schools to Seasonal Religious Expression