ACLU objects to school choirs at church concert

Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. My comments in bold.

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KALISPELL (AP) — Three high school choirs in northwestern Montana plan to participate in Christmas concerts at the Mormon church in Kalispell despite protests from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. (Did the ACLU protest when Obama spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church?)

Administrators from Flathead and Glacier high schools in Kalispell and Whitefish High School said the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints invited the choirs to participate in the “Peace on Earth Community Christmas Celebration” on Thursday and Friday, and they plan to go.

The events are advertised as a celebration of the “birth of our savior Jesus Christ,” featuring hundreds of nativity displays. The school choirs are among more than 10 musical performances scheduled.

The ACLU and Freedom From Religion Foundation sent letters to the schools within the past week saying participation in the religious event gives the appearance the schools were endorsing or advancing a specific religious message or denomination, in violation of the First Amendment. (Of course this is nonsense. First, they don't know what the message is, because the concert has yet to happen. Second, because free speech might occur, the ACLU is essentially saying that if the free speech of the attendees is not secular, it violates the First Amendment which guarantees free speech. Third, the First Amendment does not require schools to be neutral.) The complaints are now aimed at only the Kalispell schools after the groups learned the Whitefish choir is an extracurricular program.

Andrew Seidel, staff attorney with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said the students are being coerced “to forgo their constitutional right to a secular government in order to participate in a school activity.” (Now that is an amazing statement. Did you know there was a constitutional right to a secular government? Neither did I. Even more amazing is that this attorney seems to believe that preventing these choirs from singing in church [that is, preventing them from engaging in free speech] enhances their religious liberty!)

Kalispell Superintendent Darlene Schottle said student participation in the concerts is voluntary. (So no one is coerced. See, the children are not agents of the state. They cannot violate the Constitution. These children have freedoms, which would be denied them in the name of protecting them.)

Niki Zupanic, public policy director for the ACLU, argued students are put in a difficult position when asked to make such a decision. (What position might that be? Mr. Zupanic is not quoted as to the nature of the difficulty. Or perhaps he never said. 

The freedom to participate or not, according to the dictates of one's conscience, is precisely what is being discussed here. But no one should expect that exercising one's rights will always be easy or without ramifications. Those are the conditions by which liberty is exercised.)

Schottle’s formal response said, in part: “One could interpret that by denying district students the opportunity to participate because of the Christian theme of the overall event might be in violation of the second half of the establishment clause, ‘prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ Students may ‘opt out’ of assignments and/or activities that might conflict with their belief system to assure that the district is not placing them in a situation they might find uncomfortable.” (And it's those "opt-outs" that are always offered up to people who object to controversial subject matter being taught to their children. The ALCU never seems to worry about the "difficult position" those children are put in.)

Assistant Kalispell Superintendent Daniel Zorn said the school choirs have participated in the concert for the past five years and that it is not a worship service, but a community open house. He said the choirs will perform both secular and sacred songs chosen by the choir directors.

Seidel said if Flathead and Glacier go ahead with participation, the foundation will talk to local complainants to see if anyone wants to take legal action against the school district. Zupanic said the ACLU would not pursue litigation on the matter.

The Minnesota-based Freedom From Religion Foundation unsuccessfully sought the removal of a statue of Jesus from U.S. Forest Service land on a ski hill at the Whitefish Mountain Resort. A federal judge ruled against the group in June.