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No more religion in school’s holiday program (December 14, 2018)

A Michigan school district removed religious messaging from a holiday program, thanks to FFRF.

It was reported to FFRF that Fairview Area Schools’ kindergarten, 2nd-, 4th- and 6th-grade students were scheduled to present “Christmas is Coming,” a holiday-themed concert that contains a number of Christian elements. While the program was set to include some secular holiday music, it also was supposed to contain narration that treats the biblical story of the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem as historical fact.

“The ‘Christmas is Coming’ program contains narrative passages and songs with a distinctly devotional message that would be appropriate in a church, but not in a public school,” wrote FFRF Legal Fellow Colin McNamara to district Superintendent John Sattler.

Sattler responded quickly, saying that the religious narration had been removed from the program.

Freedom From Religion Foundation