Holiday Cheer Unhypothetical

[Jim Maule]

Jeff Thimsen <Lawyerdog at AOL.COM> writes:

> In response to Michael McConnell's Christmas program, I add the following
> Christmas program incident. My wife is a kindergarten teacher, and at her
> school the program is the "Winter program". During rehearsal, the principal
> expressed the opinion that it would not be appropriate to say "Merry
> Christmas" at the close. When challenged on this point, she acknowledged that
> there was no legal problem, but that it would not be "politically correct" (
> I didn't realize that anyone actually used that term in serious
> conversation). Assuming for sake of discussion, that the term "Merry
> Christmas" had actually been banned, what are the First Amendment
> implications?

What do they do in the school when someone sneezes? Is "God Bless
You" out of the question, also?

When (if) the postmodern secular humanism movement replaces its
"political correctness" concerns with a "moral correctness" focus, it
may return to its spiritual humanist origins and provide the sort of
direction and leadership the nation surely needs (see Rick Duncan's
summary of Mary Ann Glendon's piece).

Jim Maule
Professor of Law
Villanova University School of Law
Villanova, PA 19085
maule at law.vill.edu
(610) 519 - 7135