(The Blaze)
Liberty Counsel — a law firm focused on religious freedom — caught wind of a Nebraska elementary school principal who banned a long list of Christmas-related items.
What kinds of items, you ask? Liberty Counsel provided a memo from principal Jennifer Sinclair that spelled out in detail all the verboten paraphernalia at Manchester Elementary School in Omaha:
Santas or Christmas items (clip art) on worksheets
Christmas trees in classrooms
Elf on the Shelf — that's Christmas-related
Singing Christmas carols
Playing Christmas music
Sending a Scholastic book that is a Christmas book — that's Christmas-related
Making a Christmas ornament as a gift —This assumes that the family has a Christmas tree which assumes they celebrate Christmas. I challenge the thought of, "Well they can just hang it somewhere else."
Candy Cane — that's Christmas-related. Historically, the shape is a "J" for Jesus. The red is for the blood of Christ, and the white is a symbol of his resurrection. This would also include different colored candy canes.
Red/Green items — traditional Christmas colors
Reindeer
Christmas videos/movies and/or characters from Christmas movies
What was the principal's reasoning?
Sinclair — who's in her first year as Manchester's principal — noted in the memo that she "come[s] from a place that Christmas and the like are not allowed in schools" and that "as a public school" Manchester Elementary will be seek to be "inclusive and culturally sensitive to all of our students." Read more