There was another scuffle this week about the place of religious expression at the nation’s capitol. The conservative news site World Net Daily reported earlier this week that the 2009 Capitol Christmas Tree program did would not accept children’s ornaments with religious themes such as “Merry Christmas” or a manger. Apparently there was to be no Christ for our nation’s Christmas tree. The Arizona program assembling the ornaments for the program this year posted the restrictions on their website. When Alliance Defense Fund became aware of the restriction, they sent a letter to Arizona officials questioning the validity of limiting religious speech in a decoration program.
A day after WND reported the controversy, officials from the office of the Architect of the Capitol, who administer the program in Washington, rescinded the restrictions, claiming these were old restrictions that had since been overturned.
“That was old information, improperly distributed. We have rescinded those guidelines,” Eva Malecki, of the office of the Architect of the Capitol, said. “We apologize for any misunderstanding.”
Although a minor misunderstanding, it is another illustration of the illogic of many attempting to limit religious speech in our nation’s capitol and the fact that simply speaking up can reverse the tide.