holiday
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.
The organization has sent a letter to state and federal officials, including
Arizona Gov. Janice Brewer, who are supervising the program, calling on them
to stop enforcement of the prohibition.
ADF set a deadline for response of Oct. 4, the day before all the ornaments
must be turned in.
The legal organization said one criterion states: "Ornaments cannot reflect
a religious or political theme. Instead, share your interpretation of our
theme 'Arizona's gift, from the Grand Canyon State."
But a mother whose child wanted to submit ornaments with holiday themes such
as "Happy Birthday, Jesus," "Merry Christmas" and a manger scene raised her
concern with ADF.
"[The child] desires to convey a message about Arizona from his religious
perspective via Christmas ornaments. It is well established that expression
of religious beliefs is protected by the First Amendment of the United
States Constitution," the ADF letter said. "Religious expression is speech
and is entitled to the same level of protection as other kinds of speech.
"The Supreme Court has consistently condemned viewpoint discrimination
regardless where it occurs," the letter continued. "Viewpoint discrimination
is an 'egregious' form of discrimination that occurs '[w]hen the government
targets not subject matter, but particular views taken by speakers on a
subject.'
"When the government excludes speech from a forum on an otherwise includible
subject because of its perspective, it engages in viewpoint discrimination,"
the letter said. "Here, there is little question that government officials
have opened up a forum for speech on a particular topic - the topic of
Arizona - yet have singled out and forbidden religious viewpoints about this
topic. . thus, while children may submit ornaments about Arizona from all
different viewpoints - whether from different historical or cultural or
geographical or economic perspectives - these children may not submit an
ornament about Arizona from a religious perspective."
The ADF demands that the restriction be rescinded or the family "will be
forced to take legal action to protect her child's First Amendment rights."
Those in charge of the program, including Capitol Christmas Tree Coordinator
Richard Davalos in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, did not return
WND messages asking for comment.
A public information officer for the forests promised to research the issue.
The ADF said the tree itself is an 85-foot blue spruce that will be chopped
down and hauled to Washington. Four thousand of the ornaments will be on the
tree itself, and 1,000 will be displayed at other locations.
The Forest Service ornament program specifies ornaments need to be 9-12
inches tall, able to withstand winter weather for three weeks, include a
loop of wire for hanging, and be able to be seen 75 feet away.
Also, "Ornament designs may not reflect religious or political themes."
