2 of 3

Haynes said court holiday rulings suggest guidelines for Ten Commandments displays. "I think that the Ten Commandments movement has read these decisions very carefully. One strategy that's being tried in a number of places is to do it in the context of a historical display. That is, I think, clearly modeled on the Supreme Court decisions on holiday display cases."

While a Christmas display may be controversial, the ACLJ's May says, when done properly, either by a municipality or privately, courts will uphold such displays. Similarly, the ACLJ is winning the vast majority of Ten Commandments cases it has handled, said May.

The cases are related in another way according to the May. "We have actually seen a slight up tick in the number of inquiries we receive on the propriety of how to do it. We believe this is driven by the exposure that the Ten Commandments posting and monuments issue has created." The ACLJ has posted information on its website and sends letters to those who ask about the constitutionality of religious holiday displays.

The next battleground

The ACLJ has also received many inquiries from school choir directors and teachers responsible for Christmas concerts. May said, "When they look to the repertoire of the music of the season, the 95 plus percent of it is all religious in history. And they ask 'can we do that?' And the answer is 'of course certainly you can do that.' " Though the ACLJ has dealt with religious expression cases in schools, May said he has not seen an increase in antagonism.

However, Whitehead believes schools are the next battleground. He said last year they were besieged with cases where students were forbidden from saying "merry Christmas" or even wearing red or green. Whitehead expected to receive more this year when schools began performing Christmas concerts, and by Thanksgiving, they were dealing with a similar situation.

"A kid was asked to paint something that reminded him of Thanksgiving, something that he was thankful for, and he drew God on a cloud," Whitehead said. "And the teacher wadded it up and said you can't do that, it's illegal here." He said school cases are more difficult to argue because schools often have dress policies to prevent gang activity, and often students and teachers are not willing to stand up and fight to wear a cross or say "Merry Christmas."

Defending Christmas

As part of their Christmas Project Initiative, the Alliance Defense Fund has organized 700 attorneys who are willing to fight religious censorship in public schools. Barry Arrington, an ADF allied attorney, is representing a school in Elbert County Colorado that recently received a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Anti-Defamation League asking the school to remove any reference to Christmas, including secular ones. The ACLU and the ADF represented parents who didn't want their child exposed to Christmas references.

"The school is faced with a decision at this point to fight for its rights and the rights of the students and the parents and the teachers, or just make the whole thing go away by caving in. Usually the cheapest thing to do is cave in." Arrington said. "That's always been the ACLU's big ace-in-the-hole. Even if they're wrong, and they're wrong in this case, in order to vindicate that right, they must take someone to court, and money has to be spent on attorneys."

next page... |  2 of 3

share this page

December (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47