Posted: 11/27/2005 at 6:15pm | IP Logged

In a recent article from Citizen Link , the ADF provided a list of what is legal according to the constitution, when it comes to celebrating Christmas in public schools. The third annual Christmas Project , produced by the ADF is designed to make people aware of what the law really says about celebrating religious holidays in school and on public grounds.

Some of the legal facts according to the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Constitution include:

• The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that public schools must ban the singing of religious Christmas carols or prohibit the distribution of candy canes or Christmas cards.

• School officials may refer to a school break in December as "Christmas Vacation" or as a holiday without offending the Constitution.

• School officials do not violate the Constitution by closing on religious holidays such as Christmas and Good Friday.

• No court has ever held that celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas as religious holidays requires recognition of all other religious holidays.

• The "Three Reindeer Rule" used by the courts requires a municipality to place a sufficient number of secular objects in close enough proximity to the Christmas item (such as a crèche) to render the overall display sufficiently secular. Although the overall display must not convey a message endorsing a particular religion's view, Christmas displays are not banned as some people believe. Simply put, the courts ask, "Is the municipality celebrating the holiday or promoting religion?"

A free informational pamphlet is available through ADF, entitled: The Truth About Religious _Expression At Christmastime, for more information on how to get it, log onto: www.saychristmas.org

More...
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038627.cfm

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