Texas Values’ ‘Merry Christmas Texas’ Project Educates Texans on Merry Christmas Law
This week, Texas Values announced that relaunch of the ‘Merry Christmas Texas’ project, a statewide effort to educate and protect the acknowledgement of Christmas in public schools and ensure the religious liberty of children, parents, teachers, and school administrators. The new effort builds upon the Merry Christmas Law (HB 308), authored by State Representative Dwayne Bohac, that was passed with bipartisan support by the Texas Legislature and was signed into law in 2013.
At MerryChristmasTexas.com, Texans can educate themselves about their rights under the Merry Christmas Law and engage on this issue by downloading a summary of the law and sharing with their school district, signing a petition in support of the effort, and reporting how their schools are acknowledging Christmas.
“We hope our Merry Christmas Texas effort will educate millions of Texas public school students and parents and our over 1,200 school districts of their protections under Texas’ Merry Christmas Law,” said Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values. “Texans across the state are rising up to say it’s time to end the War on Christmas and the fear caused by political correctness. This common sense law provides a solid roadmap for public school officials to follow to appropriately celebrate Christmas and should help school districts respect First Amendment rights while avoiding costly litigation. When it comes to the treatment of Christmas, we hope less school districts are naughty and more are nice. And we hope Santa Claus doesn’t get left out in the cold,” concluded Saenz.
Christmas has been recognized as a federal holiday by the United States since the 1870’s. Landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases have made it clear that such expressions and displays are permissible. Since the passage of the Merry Christmas Law, Texas Values has helped defeat efforts across the state to attack Christmas, including an attempt in Austin ISD to ban high-school students from singing Christmas carols and attempts in Frisco ISD to ban any “reference to Christmas” or any “red/green or Christmas trees” in elementary schools.
Other Texas school districts have seen long and costly court cases over Christmas expressions, including the famous “Candy Cane Case” from Plano ISD. Some school districts have been embarrassed when they tried to push Santa Claus out of school and into the cold, but citizens fought back.
About Texas Values
Texas Values is a non-profit organization dedicated to standing for faith, family, and freedom in Texas. More information is available at txvalues.org