Blog from the Capital

Or, as Howard Friedman suggests, "Be Careful What You Wish For." Americans United relays the Albemarle County, VA school experience after Christian groups demanded equal treatment for religion in the flyer distribution program. It turns out that many non-Christians are religious too.

Some local Pagans who attend Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, a Unitarian-Universalist congregation in Charlottesville, decided to take advantage of the new forum as well. They created a one-page flier advertising a Dec. 9 event celebrating the December holidays with a Pagan twist and used the backpack system to invite the entire school community.

“Have you ever wondered what ‘Holidays’ refers to?” reads the flier. “Everyone knows about Christmas – but what else are people celebrating in December? Why do we celebrate the way we do?”

The flier invites people to “an educational program for children of all ages (and their adults), where we’ll explore the traditions of December and their origins, followed by a Pagan ritual to celebrate Yule.”

Some Christian parents there are upset--as are some who believe the school shouldn't be distributing any religious literature. As I've found before, flyer programs are tricky legal areas. But if the details are such that religious meetings may be promoted this way, then all religions must be free to make use of it, even the ones that aren't our favorites.

It's one more good example of why we need to be involved in our community and give voice to the actions of our local government. Likely, most parents at this school were unaware there was a controversy as Liberty Counsel demanded religous access to their kids' backpacks. There is certainly a way to configure a school-parent/student communication system that restricts community organizations' access--to prohibit all non-school-sponsored groups and events from using the school to advertise. And if the school board in this case had heard a loud voice arguing for that outcome instead, they may have decided in that direction.