Praise GOD; a victory for Christ in the war on Christmas !!!
Alliance Defending Freedom is reporting a religious freedom victory in Montana.
“Alliance Defending Freedom sent Kalispell and Whitefish Public Schools a letter commending the school districts for rejecting two secularist groups’ attempts to stop student choir members from voluntarily participating in a community Christmas festival held at a local church.”
Litigation Staff Counsel Rory Gray said, “Schools should not have to think twice about whether they can allow choirs to participate in community Christmas events. Courts have unanimously allowed students to sing Christmas carols at school. Nothing changes when they sing the same Christmas songs at a community festival instead. We commend the districts for rightly ignoring the baseless threats delivered by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.”
In their letter, Alliance Defending Freedom explains that “every federal court to examine the issue has determined that including Christmas carols in school choir performances fully complies with the First Amendment.” Performances at a church do not promote religion but allow students “to serve the wider community with their talents, see and learn from other choirs’ techniques, and gain valuable performance experience in front of a large audience.”
The Alliance Defending Freedom has made it known that they are ready to freely assist public schools if the ACLU and the FFRF take legal action and continue their unfounded demands that school choirs be excluded from the community Christmas festivals. Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco says, a handful of misguided complaints and a misunderstanding of First Amendment law should not be allowed to harm students and deprive them of education experiences that serve the community. We hope other school districts will follow Kalispell and Whitefish’s example and reject the religious discrimination these groups promote.
I thank the Alliance Defending Freedom group for their outstanding support in these matters and praise these schools in Montana for standing up to these misguided atheist organizations.