Life During War on Christmastime

War on Christmastime is here / Resentment and fear Only 84 whining days left!

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.

“The First Amendment does not allow government officials to exclude schoolchildren’s ornaments for the capitol’s Christmas tree merely because they communicate a religious viewpoint,” he said yesterday.

We’re looking forward to the merry Wiccan and Atheist ornaments “able to be seen 75 feet away”. But if we’re so concerned about the First Amendment rights of kids, why are we so upset about them singing for the President?

Guess who’s now banned from Capitol Christmas tree! [WND]

Update: False alarm — the Nation’s Christmas Tree is safe for Jesus:

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.

Whew. That was close. We were afraid the only place left in DC to properly celebrate Christmas was C Street.

nojo
3:49 pm • Thursday • October 1, 2009
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7 Comments

Capt Howdy

4:10 pm • Thursday • October 1, 2009

they should avoid controversy and go with something secular.

like one me and my partner did in the 80’s decorated exclusively with green rubber hospital gloves and cans of spam.

al2o3cr

4:41 pm • Thursday • October 1, 2009

The funny thing is that the clear intent of the Forest Service statement is to keep the kids “on topic”, for lack of a better description. They’re basically saying, “We have a theme, so don’t make generic-ass ornaments.”

Reminds me of my old job, where the Mississippi 10th graders were apparently told (the *second* time the test was administered) that they had to address the writing prompt, rather than writing about how much they love Jesus.

Apparently, that seriously skewed the distribution the first year (too many “off-topic” responses).

They got it 100% sorted the third year, as they had students write about someone they respected and/or admired. “Jesus” and “my babydaddy” were roughly equally represented that year, I recall.

4:45 pm • Thursday • October 1, 2009

on singing for the prez:
VIDEONETDAILY
3rd graders chant: Obama ‘uniting blacks and whites’

horrors

JNOV

4:57 pm • Thursday • October 1, 2009

Mebbe we should just leave those old-growth trees alone.

Benedick

5:02 pm • Thursday • October 1, 2009

@JNOV: Hear hear!

Jamie bar the door

6:36 pm • Thursday • October 1, 2009

October 4? Man, I gotta hurry and go find some kids here who would submit an “Allah akbar!” themed ornament.