This Indiana High School Thinks It’s Perfectly Legal to Perform a Nativity Play at the Holiday Concert September 1, 2015

This Indiana High School Thinks It’s Perfectly Legal to Perform a Nativity Play at the Holiday Concert

It’s one thing for a public school to include traditional Christmas carols in a holiday concert. But an all-out Nativity re-enactment?

That’s what happened at Concord High School in Indiana last year. They even announced the cast right in the program:

Hell, you want to watch the scene? It’s on YouTube (1:20:09):

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has written a letter to the District warning them against doing it again this year:

It is illegal for a public school to endorse religion to students by organizing a religious performance, such as acting out the exclusively Christian legend of Jesus’s birth. The performance has a clearly devotional message and thus would be appropriate in a church setting, but not in a public school…

Centering the high school’s holiday concert around the nativity is illegal even if participation in the nativity scene is voluntary…

The simple solution is for Concord Community Schools to devise a winter concert centered around secular values like family, giving, and community, rather than focusing on the religious aspects of one specific holiday.

This is the same school, by the way, where a science teacher was showing his students videos featuring Creationist Kent Hovind. The Christianity runs deep in this community — to the point where District officials seem to have no idea how far beyond the church/state separation line they already are.

Sam Grover, an FFRF attorney, made clear this is not just a frivolous matter:

“If the district does it again [performs the Nativity], it’s exposing itself to potential legal liability,” he said. “Any teenager in the district that takes issue with the district’s promotion of Christianity can take it up, and FFRF will also consider legal options.”

It’s such a clear violation of the law. How the choir director, Principal, and other administrators have looked the other way for years is just appalling.

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