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'Tis The Season For Battles Over Holiday Displays On Public Property

By Howard M. Friedman

This is the time of year when disputes over holiday displays on public property and be expected. Here is a sampling of the most recent.

According to an editorial in the Desert Valley (NV) Times, some residents of Mesquite, Nevada boycotted the mayor's tree lighting ceremony on Tuesday because a notice of the event she sent out referred to it as a "holiday tree." The event included a prayer by a Presbyterian pastor, a plea from the mayor to remember the message that accompanied the birth of Jesus Christ, and City Council singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Mayor Susan Holecheck said she had to use the term "holiday tree" because of the potential for lawsuits from the ACLU and others.

Today's Santa Cruz (CA) Sentinel reports that according to Santa Cruz city officials, for years they have been issuing the wrong kind of permit to Chabad Rabbi Yochanan Friedman who puts up a menorah in downtown Santa Cruz. Officials say the permit he should be issued requires him to furnish round-the-clock security for the menorah. This would cost around $5000. This follows a campaign by atheists in the city to have the menorah removed from public property, though city officials say that did not influence their action. The city will continue to have a community tree downtown, with lights but no ornaments, and says security is not required for that. Also Mai Dao-Horton, who began the petition to have the menorah removed, says the tree is permissible because the city has "done a conscientious job of de-Christianizing it." [Thanks to Scott Mange for this lead.]

In Ashland, Oregon, dozens of parents are upset after Bellview Elementary School Principal Michelle Zundel removed a holiday tree when a family complained that it is a religious symbol. According to today's Southern Oregon Mail Tribune, the principal also created new guidelines for school displays that effectively bar holiday trees, Santa Claus figures and dreidels, that courts generally classify as secular. However, under the new guidelines, wreaths, candles, candy canes, snowflakes and snowmen are permitted. Organizers of the "giving tree program" said they were not trying to promote Christianity, but were merely trying to help needy students and spread holiday cheer with the tree. Zundel said that with compulsory attendance, schools need to be more sensitive than the law requires.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on December 04, 2009 (boomark / email).