Attorney: School That Censored Child's Christmas Message Discarded Constitution
by Jim Brown
February 13, 2004
(AgapePress) - The mother of a six-year-old Oregon boy is suing the Gresham-Barlow School District, claiming the kindergartner was not allowed to pass out his Christmas cards because they mentioned Jesus.The American Center for Law & Justice is representing Julie Cortez and her son Justin. Their federal lawsuit charges that when Justin tried to hand out cards at a school Christmas party, they were taken from him.
According to the center's senior counsel Stuart Roth, the Christmas cards suggested that candy canes are shaped like a "J" to symbolize Jesus, with the red stripes symbolizing Christ's blood. He says the ACLJ filed the lawsuit on behalf of Justin and his mother because the school's action violated the kindergartener's constitutional rights.
"Our position is that this type of censorship, solely because of the religious perspective and viewpoint of Justin Cortez's message, violated the United States Constitution -- specifically the free speech clause," Roth says.
The attorney contends that Justin's freedom of religious expression and his right to equal protection under the law were also violated. He says the offending content in the cards taken from Justin was nothing more than "a factual, historical script on the history of the candy cane," censored "solely because it mentioned Jesus ... in a manner that tied him to Christmas."
Roth says he assumes the school district feels that for some reason it has to purge Jesus from Christmas. But the attorney says Justin would not have suffered this censorship had the district simply followed its own policy, which warns school officials not to exclude students because of their free religious expression during holiday celebrations or class time.
