Author:
Publication: Zenit.org
Date: December 14, 2001
Officials Banning Signs of the Christian
Holiday
Despite the rise of religious sensibilities
in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Christmas is an unwelcome
holiday in many U.S. public schools this year, reports the Washington Times.
Signs of low tolerance for the Christian
holiday abound.
A Frederick County, Maryland, school
employee was told by an administrator that employees would be banned from
handing out Christmas cards in the school because cards with a Christian
message "may not be a legally protected right on a public school campus."
A fourth-grader in Ephrata, Pennsylvania,
was prohibited from handing out religious Christmas cards to classmates.
Two middle school students in Rochester,
Minnesota, were disciplined for wearing red and green scarves in a Christmas
skit and for ending the skit by saying, "We hope you all have a merry Christmas."
Two ninth-graders in Plymouth, Massachusetts,
were told they could not create Christmas cards that say "Merry Christmas"
or depict a nativity scene.
A teacher in Plymouth, Illinois,
was warned by her principal not to read a book about Christmas to her second-grade
students. The book was in the school's library.
The superintendent of the Silverton,
Oregon, school district had students remove all "religious" holiday decorations
from their lockers but allowed secular decorations.
The county school board in Covington,
Georgia, deleted the word "Christmas" from the school calendar after the
American Civil Liberties Union threatened legal action.
"We're getting besieged," said John
Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville, Virginia-based
organization that provides legal help in cases involving religious bias.
Whitehead said his group has received
at least 50 complaints or inquiries, including the above examples, about
situations in which students or teachers were told that various Christmas
decorations or messages were banned at their schools.
In nearly all cases, the Rutherford
Institute informed the complainants that school officials overstepped their
bounds.
Meanwhile, the Catholic League,
the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization, is protesting
a policy in New York public schools that allows the display of the Jewish
menorah and the Muslim star and crescent, but not the Christian nativity.
"They are discriminating against
Christians; we're contemplating a lawsuit," said league spokesman Patrick
Scully told the Washington Times.
Problems arose when the Catholic
League received a copy of a memo that Fran Levy, principal of the Thomas
Jefferson Magnet School of Humanities in Flushing, New York, issued teachers
Nov. 30.
In the memo, Levy urged teachers
to "bring in Muslim, Kwanzaa and Jewish secular symbols."
"I would like to display these religious
symbols equally," the principal said, apparently unaware that Kwanzaa is
a nonreligious celebration.
The Catholic League was disturbed
that there was no mention of Christianity.
It discovered that a Christmas tree
had been put up at the school, but Levy had ordered it to be taken down.
She said the tree was too large,
compared with the menorah and the crescent and star.
The Christmas tree was displayed
again after the Catholic League complained to New York school officials.
But they rejected the league's demand
that a nativity scene also be displayed at the school alongside what the
league described as other "religious symbols."
The league was surprised to receive
a copy of a memo on holiday displays, issued by the general counsel to
Harold Levy, chancellor of New York City Public Schools.
The general counsel's office said:
"The display of secular holiday symbol decorations is permitted. Such symbols
include, but are not limited to, Christmas trees, menorahs, and the star
and crescent."
Harold Levy (no relation to the
school principal) reiterated this in a statement.
But of the league's bid for a nativity
scene, he said, "The Supreme Court has previously refused to permit erection
of a nativity scene on public property."
The Catholic League immediately
fired back a letter to Harold Levy, disputing his statement about the Supreme
Court's rulings on nativity scenes.
In the letter, William A. Donohue,
league president, cited a 1984 high court decision that, in his words,
held that "religious symbols placed next to secular symbols pass constitutional
muster because the government is not endorsing religion."
Donohue noted that another high
court ruling, five years later, found that a menorah placed on the steps
of a Pittsburgh courthouse was permissible because it was next to a Christmas
tree.
But the court said a nativity scene
erected in the government complex was not constitutional because it stood
alone.
Whitehead confirmed those legal
opinions and said he believes the Catholic League's arguments are correct.
Asked if Harold Levy now believes
a nativity scene could be displayed in a New York public school, if it
were grouped with other religious and secular symbols, Margie Feinberg,
the chancellor's spokeswoman, said Levy is reviewing the matter.
