Texas Values organization’s mission is to defend the religiousness of the holiday
’Tisn’t the season to mess with Christmas, at least as far as the nonprofit Texas Values is concerned.
The organization’s Merry Christmas Texas Project, which considers itself a frontline defender in the so-called War on Christmas, is gearing up for another month of Christmastime conflict. Every year around this time the project’s staff members try to educate Texans about what their rights are in regard to religious-themed holiday expression in public spaces, particularly in public schools.
“As long as people continue to attack Christmas, and as long as government officials continue to try to unfairly and illegally restrict First Amendment rights of private individuals when it comes to Christmas, Texas Values will be right there leading the charge to defend their rights,” Texas Values President Jonathan Saenz said.
As Saenz sees it, atheists and secular organizations threaten the religious liberty of parents, students and teachers by telling them that religious-themed holiday decorations and expressions on public property are against the law. It’s left to the Merry Christmas Texas Project to prevent these people from stifling the ex-
pression of Texans’ Christmas spirit, he said.
“Inevitably people will call us after this time of year saying they weren’t aware of what their rights were,” Saenz said. “But a lot of the time it’s too late.”
And even though the project began four years ago, following the 2013 passage of a Texas House bill seeking to clarify what Texans’ rights are concerning religious holiday expression, Saenz said the group’s work is needed now more than ever.
“We’ve seen a continuation of attacks on Christmas since the project started,” he said, confirming that “War on Christmas” is indeed a term that’s used around the Texas Values office. “The attacks on Christmas continue, and they’re increasing all around the country.”
Saenz wasn’t sure if the project is involved with any new Christmas skirmishes this year (“The season’s not over yet,” he said). But he said that since the project started, Texas Values has spent thousands of dollars on radio and internet advertising, as well as on educational outreach and legal costs.
And as far as Christmas battles go, he said the organization has seen a few.
For example, there’s the 2013 conflict at a Frisco Independent School District elementary school, which began when a parent called a Christmas party a “holiday party” in an email to PTA members and the Merry Christmas Texas Project stepped in.
Another incident that same year involved Austin Independent School District. The administration at Anderson High School discouraged students from participating in a school choir Christmas caroling project, until it reversed course after concerned parties, including Texas Values, sent letters to school officials.
“A lot of the time you have government officials exercising unnecessary caution, and by doing that they actually restrict private individuals’ rights,” Saenz said, adding that his group prefers to send letters and educate school administrators before misunderstandings and confrontations end up in court.
One major Merry Christmas Texas Project victory came in December 2016. That’s when three lawyers from Texas Values successfully defended a Killeen Independent School District employee’s right to display a popular Christmas-related Bible verse — also a quote from the TV special “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” — on her office door.
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night,” the Bible passage on Dedra Shannon’s poster read. “And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.”
“I mean, it’s a quote from Linus,” Saenz said, referring to the “Peanuts” character.
The poster, Charlie Brown-related or not, raised eyebrows with school administrators, and they told Shannon to take the poster down. The case ended up in Bell County District Court, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton even filed a plea to intervene on Shannon’s behalf.
Ultimately, Shannon and her Texas Values attorneys ended up winning the lawsuit, primarily because of House Bill 308 that led to creation of the nonprofit’s Christmas project in the first place, Saenz said.
That law, which state Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, sponsored in 2013, states that school district employees and officials are permitted to educate students about “the history of traditional winter celebrations,” including through displays like nativity scenes and menorahs. The bill is written to protect holiday expression related to all religions, despite being commonly referred to as the “Merry Christmas law.”
For instance, according to the bill, schools can put up displays associated with traditional winter celebrations as long as the display includes a scene or symbol from either more than one religion or one religion and also a secular scene or symbol, like a Christmas tree or Santa Claus.
Proponents of the law claim that it’s in line with previous Supreme Court rulings that protect Christmas-related speech during the holidays.
“That’s the reason the bill was written,” Saenz said. “It’s one page. To make it very clear what the law is on this issue, so students and school administration can just enjoy this time of year and not have to concern themselves with issues that have already been resolved.”
Not everyone sees the issue as so cut and dry, however.
Annie-Laurie Gaylor, cofounder of the national nonprofit Freedom From Religion Foundation, said the Texas law is unconstitutional and “meant to cause trouble.”
Gaylor’s nonprofit, which spends its time fighting against some of the very causes that Saenz’s organization seeks to encourage, views Texas as a hot spot for this type of religious intrusion in public schools and government.
“In Texas, it’s just a constant battle,” Gaylor said. “The law is meant to encourage the celebration of the miraculous birth of a deity — a Jesus — and it’s not appropriate to have in a public school. It’s appropriate for a church. Schools are public, so tax dollars pay for them, and taxpayers are from every religion and no religion.”
Freedom From Religion Foundation has gotten involved in numerous cases around Texas that involve religious expression at school, Gaylor said. But, even though the organization has been waiting for something to come up, so far it hasn’t challenged a Christmas-related incident at a public school in Texas.
“We’re surprised,” she said, noting that the foundation is involved in a case involving a Christmas play at a public school in Elkhorn, Ind., as well as a nativity display at the Texas State Capitol. “But we expect that something will happen.”
Debby Williams, president of the secular group Humanists of Houston, said the fact that there haven’t been any lawsuits over the constitutionality of the Merry Christmas law might come down to expectations. People simply expect Texas school officials to behave in this way, she said.
“Most of the people I know accept this kind of Christmas celebration in schools as normal,” Williams said. “I come at it from the outside — I’m from Chicago — and I find this insistence and defensiveness surrounding Christmas odd and old-fashioned. It’s not keeping up with the times, especially in a place as diverse in Houston.”
Particularly egregious, Williams said, are the Christmas programs she sees happening this time of year. She said her friends who have children in the public school system say the same.
“I’m hearing a lot about ‘Christ, our savior’ and Christmas-themed salvation songs,” she said, adding that it’s all contributed to her decision to home-school her 13-year-old son.
“With this overwhelming Christian privilege comes a certain attitude toward science and education,” she said. “I don’t want my son exposed to that; he would have a hard time.”