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A Victory For Away In A Manger

Via ACLJ

Late last week at the Lakeview Elementary School in Wilson County, Tennessee, moms and dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles gathered at the school to watch the performance of the elementary students’ Christmas program. Also in attendance were three lawyers, including our Senior Counsel from the American Center for Law and Justice. The Wilson County School System has been sued by the ACLU because last year’s program included the singing of the song, “Away in a Manger.” The ACLU actually alleged in the complaint that when people joined in to sing “Away in a Manger,” it violated the Constitution because the song is “exclusively Christian in nature, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.” They went on to allege that “only the Christian viewpoint of Christmas was recognized and celebrated at this program.”

As this case was filed in federal court, the American Center for Law and Justice represented school officials. I wanted to make sure that the ACLU’s censorship attack would not be successful, and I am happy to report that at the program last week, students sang “Away in a Manger” in the presence of three lawyers and no additional legal action has been taken. But isn’t it ridiculous that three lawyers had to monitor what fifth and sixth graders would be singing at the school’s event? Have we reached a point in our culture where students singing a song that some might disagree with can now become a basis of censorship? For all the ACLU’s talk of championing freedom of speech, they certainly weren’t championing the freedom of speech of these students. The good news is that reason prevailed and the song was sung.

Read the whole thing.

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Posted by Jay on December 11, 2006 9:47 pm

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Comments

One Response to “A Victory For Away In A Manger”

  1. Jeff Molby on December 11th, 2006 9:52 pm

    I’m not sure how this is considered a victory. All it means is that there were no injunctions. I presume the case is still moving forward? This just means the school is locked into its course.

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