Children can't listen
to Christmas music

School district cites bus safety as reason, parents claim 1st Amendment
violation

Posted: December 9, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Joe Kovacs
(c) 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

Is Christmas music the target of a new ban by a school district in Illinois?

Some parents believe it is, and they're looking to overturn the policy
silencing music from the radios of school buses.

Sandy Hartogh says she found out about the no-music policy when her children
rode the bus home last Friday, and she and her husband have since retained a 
lawyer to challenge the edict.

The attorney, Andy Norman, sent a letter to officials of the school district
stating: 

  Your order that no Christmas carols may be played under these
  circumstances constitutes an illegal suppression of the rights
  of our clients' children under the Free Exercise Clause of the First
  Amendment to the United States Constitution. It also reflects
  illegal hostility directed against Christianity. Respectfully,
  demand is made that you immediately rescind this order and allow
  Christmas carols to be played in the buses along with other music.

But Dr. Dennis Conti, superintendent of Woodland School District 50 
is painting a different picture, telling WorldNetDaily the ban has
nothing to do with religious music, but rather the safety of the
children riding the bus.

(snip / snip)

The public celebration of Christmas has come under fire in America 
in recent years, from bans on the mention of the word Christmas in
schools and parades, to bans on "religious" Christmas cards and 
carols in classrooms.

As WorldNetDaily reports today, a high school principal canceled a
dramatic performance of Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol,"
partly because he feared it would raise questions about the place of
religion in public schools. 

---------------------------------------------------------------

Full article at WorldNetDaily ...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41837

Cheers, Steve..

---