What Did You Say?

This year’s earliest contender for “the  Grinch that stole Christmas” is the American Humanist Organization. A  charter school in Colorado, the SkyView Academy, is being sued by the humanist  organization because of their decision to participate in Operation Christmas  Child, a ministry of Samartian’s Purse. Operation  Christmas Child takes shoeboxes filled with goodies (toys, school and  toiletry supplies, and other necessities) and hands them out to children living  in poverty in third world nations. In short, they give Christmas to hundreds of  thousands of needy children every year.

The humanists just couldn’t have that, could they?  So they sent a letter to SkyView Academy (as well as another school in South  Carolina) demanding that they cease and desist or they would be sued. “Because they don’t like the message that we convey under our religious  liberty, they have to shut us down and that is a tactic of bullying,” she said. “They don’t believe in equal access. They believe in shutting down anybody who  doesn’t comply with their view of what society should be – and that is  completely godless.”

Knowing that they didn’t have the wherewithal to fight a court battle,  SkyView (and the school in South Carolina) both called off their efforts.  However, that didn’t stop the kids and families at SkyView from getting  involved.

… The students at SkyView decided to defy the humanists.

On Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of students and parents and well-wishers  staged a grassroots act of defiance. And while they meant to send a message to  the humanists – it was really about making sure poor children had toys on  Christmas day.

“The young people weren’t concerned about the politics of it,” Unruh told  me. “They were asking, ‘what about the kids?’”

Instead of collecting the shoe boxes inside the school – the students just  moved their entire operation outside – on a public sidewalk.

Volunteers loaded shoe boxes into trucks and vans, while students held a  religious liberty rally – hoisting signs condemning the humanists.

The humanist group attempted to defend itself from  cries of being a “Grinch.” They claimed that it was all about upholding the  constitution and everyone’s freedom of religion. Sadly, their rhetoric is simply  a lie. The drive to participate in Operation Christmas Child was student led,  not school led. Participation was voluntary, and in no way affected the  religious liberty of any students. Most importantly, there is no Constitutional  imperative separating public entities from religious activities. It’s just not  there. The Bill of Rights says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an  establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” That’s  very different from some school allowing its students to collect toys and  sundries for poor children in the third world. Sadly, this is how the humanists  operate – they twist words, and threaten those who cannot defend themselves, to  get their way.

Thankfully, the good families of SkyView Academy in Colorado didn’t let those  threats stop them from making sure that some poor children a world away could  have a Merry Christmas.