Texas Sues School District Over Charlie Brown Decoration
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KILLEEN (AP) - Texas' attorney general has sued one of the state's school districts over its removal of a decoration that included a biblical verse recited by Linus in the 1960s TV special "A Charlie Brown Christmas."
Republican Ken Paxton announced the lawsuit Thursday. He argues that Texas' "Merry Christmas law," adopted in 2013, means schools can't "silence a biblical reference to Christmas."
Officials in the Killeen school district north of Austin ordered a nurse's aide to remove a handmade decoration featuring a Bible verse from the special, fearing it violated prohibitions on religion in classrooms.
The school board then voted 6-1 on Tuesday to endorse the move.
Paxton's suit calls it censorship. He said in a statement that "religious discrimination towards Christians has become a holiday tradition of sorts among certain groups. I am glad to see that the court broke through the left's rhetorical fog and recognized that a commitment to diversity means protecting everyone's individual religious expression."
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