Tag Archives: Topic: Holidays

” . . . Today, Eva Malecki of the office of the Architect of the Capitol told WND the ban on ‘religious speech’ on the ornaments was an old rule that had been discontinued some years ago.” (WorldNetDaily)

CitizenLink: “Arizona students were asked to create thousands of ornaments for this year’s national Christmas tree — but officials specifically directed them not to include religious references. Jonathan Scruggs, staff counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), called that instruction ironic. ‘The whole origin of Christmas is religion,’ he said.”

WorldNetDaily: “The U.S. Forest Service has banned the name of Jesus from decorations being assembled by children in Arizona for a blue spruce from the state that will become the Capitol Christmas Tree this year, and a legal firm is challenging the censorship. ‘Banning Christmas from the Capitol Christmas tree is just absurd. Christian students shouldn’t be discriminated against for expressing their religious beliefs,’ said Jonathan Scruggs, litigation staff counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund.”

LifeSiteNews: “Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) called on Arizona state and federal officials on Monday to stop enforcing a requirement prohibiting the state’s schoolchildren from expressing religious viewpoints through Christmas themes while decorating ornaments for the 2009 Capitol Christmas Tree . . . ‘Banning Christmas from the Capitol Christmas tree is just absurd. Christian students shouldn’t be discriminated against for expressing their religious beliefs,’ said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Jonathan Scruggs.”

ADF attorneys are calling for government leaders to stop enforcing a requirement prohibiting schoolchildren from expressing religious viewpoints through Christmas themes.

Houston Chronicle: “Christmas will stay in Texas textbooks, State Board of Education members said Thursday while reviewing early recommendations for new social studies standards.”

El Paso Times: We agree with Jonathan Saenz of the Free Market Foundation: “It’s outrageous that the war on Christmas continues in our state and our nation.”

The Religion Clause Blog: “The EEOC alleges that in 2006 the company fired a Jehovah’s Witness employee who refused on religious grounds to represent the company at a local Halloween carnival.”

Dallas Morning News (AP): “A proposal for new social studies curriculum in Texas public schools removes a mention of Christmas in a sixth-grade lesson, replacing it with a Hindu religious festival, a change that has riled conservatives who say it’s another battle in the ‘war’ against the Christian holiday.”

Houston Chronicle (AP): “A proposal for new social studies curriculum in Texas public schools removes a mention of Christmas in a sixth-grade lesson, replacing it with a Hindu religious festival, a change that’s riled conservatives who say it’s another battle in the “war” against the Christian holiday.”

Thomas More Law Center: “On Monday, September 14th at 10:00 a.m., Robert Muise, an attorney with the Thomas More Law Center, will urge the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia to reverse a lower court ruling that upheld a New Jersey school district’s policy that banned the performance of religious music in the district’s public schools . . . he lawsuit was filed on behalf of Michael Stratechuk . . . ”

Seattle-Tacoma News Tribune: “Under the draft policy announced last month, Capitol landlords no longer allow private displays or exhibits in public areas inside any campus building . . . Ron Wesselius, a real estate agent, sued after Gov. Chris Gregoire lit a Jewish menorah in a Hanukkah-related ceremony in December 2006, and the state denied his subsequent request to put up a nativity display. Wesselius and the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund later settled its federal suit in 2007, paving the way for nativity displays in 2007 and 2008. ”

Religion Clause Blog: “The Petoskey, Michigan School Board, during a closed portion of its August 18 meeting, voted unanimously to change the school calendar so that “Winter Holiday Break” is now called “Christmas Break” . . . in response to an e-mail (full text) from the Board’s treasurer, Jack Waldvogel . . . ”

KNDO: “The Christmas tree can stay, but no more Nativity scene. That’s the word from Washington’s Capitol, where protests erupted last winter over competing private holiday displays.”

President Bush: “We recognize that all of these blessings, and life itself, come not from the hand of man but from Almighty God.”

. . . Saratoga turned the tide of the war — news of the victory was decisive in bringing France into a full alliance with America. Congress responded to the event . . .

ADF Attorney David French has this new post over at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog. David begins: I

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.