This past Wednesday the Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter to New Hampshire School Administrative Unit 29 Superintendent Robert Malay educating him on the constitutionality of the term “Christmas.”<\/p>\n
Malay had ordered the term “Christmas Tree” be replaced with “Holiday Tree” on a flier advertising a … Christmas<\/em> tree lighting event.<\/p>\n In protest, the person in charge of the fliers whited out “Christmas” instead.<\/p>\n From the ADF news release<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cCalling Christmas trees what they are is not unconstitutional,\u201d said ADF Senior Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. \u201cBut it is unconstitutional to censor private speech simply because it is religious in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n District policy allows the distribution of private fliers providing information about \u201cnon-school programs offered by non-profit organizations\u201d that are \u201cdeemed to have educational, recreational or social value to students,\u201d but the policy also says the fliers \u201cmust be secular.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAfter public outcry regarding the censorship of this innocuous reference to what Congress has recognized as a \u2018legal public holiday[],\u2019 SAU 29 issued a statement suggesting that Superintendent Malay\u2019s decision was prompted by concerns about violating the Establishment Clause. But the Establishment Clause requires no such thing\u2026,\u201d the ADF letter explains. \u201cIn fact, SAU 29\u2019s policy explicitly singles out religion in a forbidden manner, stating that flyers \u2018must be secular.\u2019 This fosters \u2018a pervasive bias or hostility to religion [that] undermine[s] the very neutrality the Establishment Clause requires,\u2019\u201d as the U.S. Supreme Court stated in a 1995 decision.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cSimply put,” the letter continues, “using the word Christmas<\/em> in a flyer advertising a Christmas<\/em> tree lighting and the appearance of Santa Claus is only sensible and plainly not unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n Read the full article<\/a>.<\/p>\n Like The College Fix<\/i> on Facebook<\/a> \/ Follow us on Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n IMAGE: Shutterstock<\/p>\n