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A Midwestern university has mandated "Merry -----mas" as a holiday greeting, banning "Christ" in apparent violation of the U.S. Constitution, according to Liberty Counsel, which works to advance religious freedom and the traditional family.The events have developed at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, Okla.The controversy began when the university's director of human resources recently visited various departments and said that decorations featuring the word 'Christmas' in any areas of the university must be immediately removed," the organization said. "He also instructed the employees not to say 'Christmas' while on the job. As a result the employees cannot respond 'Merry Christmas' to other employees or visitors to the University."University President John M. Hays denied the school "has a policy" that employees cannot say "Merry Christmas," but he admitted that a "supervisor" may have given instructions regarding holiday wording.Hays blamed it on "an attempt to be respectful of the diverse religious population at Southwestern Oklahoma State University."That effort, he said, "has been misinterpreted as an attempt to ban Christmas on the Weatherford campus. ... The university attempted to prevent the appearance as a state agency of endorsing any particular religion."Hays said employees may be "asked in some offices to be careful about what they put up." And he suggested that a supervisor, for example, may tell employees they could not put a "pornographic material" or erect a monument to "Wicca."But Mathew D. Staver, founder and chief of Liberty Counsel, said the circumstances were documented before the organization raised the issue, sending the school a letter suggesting an immediate abandonment of such a policy. He also said Liberty Counsel had been told the university issued the policy on legal advice from Oklahoma Attorney General W.A. Drew Edmonson.The complaint came through several channels to Liberty Counsel, including from a city commissioner whose daughter works at the school and was given the instructions directly."Also other employees, in an employee-wide meeting … were told that," Staver said.One college official visited a university office used for registering students and told workers that "Christ" in the word "Christmas" had to be covered up, he said."This censorship specifically includes exchanging greetings of 'Merry Christmas' among employees or with non-employees, whether initiated by a university employee or not," Liberty Counsel said. "Christmas remains a legal holiday for state employees, including those at SWOSU. The directive does not include any other legal holidays such as Thanksgiving or New Year's."Such demands "are in direct violation of the United States Constitution and other federal law. The First Amendment prohibits government from being hostile to religion. Selecting one legal holiday for negative treatment and special restrictions solely because it has religious aspects clearly demonstrates hostility toward religion," Liberty Counsel said."Moreover, the free speech rights of employees at the university are infringed when their speech is censored solely because of a religious viewpoint or perceived religious viewpoint."The organization noted the school's website contained "Happy Holidays" and some Christmas trees."Of all places, a public university should foster free expression. How can public university officials honestly believe that the state can prohibit its employees from saying 'Merry Christmas?' After all, Christmas is a state and federal legal holiday."WND also reported just days earlier on a case in which officials in an Arizona town were advised they could call their Christmas tree a Christmas tree, and if someone complained, they could get advice from the Alliance Defense Fund, an activist legal organization.The organization said it has sent a letter to the town of Queen Creek, affirming that the use of the word "Christmas" does not violate the Constitution."The American people, common sense, and the Constitution are clearly winning the war on Christmas waged by the Left," said Gary McCaleb, ADF senior counsel. "Unfortunately, the misguided belief that we must sanitize Christmas to keep from offending a small segment of the population exists."Residents of the Arizona town recently bombarded officials with dozens of e-mails asking that the tree, now known as the "holiday tree," which was donated by a local family, be returned to its original Christmas tree designation.As in the days of Noah....
