School Gets to Keep Linus and His Christmas Message

The Peanuts Gang always wins in the end — and this remains true at a Texas middle school. A judge has ordered that a homemade poster depicting Linus reading a Bible passage can stay posted on the nurse’s office door.

Last week, the Killeen Independent School District had ordered that the door-length poster — made by school aide Dedra Shannon — be removed from Patterson Middle School, stating it might make non-Christian students feel uncomfortable.

Their reasoning? Even though it’s Christmas — it’s the minority that matters. Yet most children and their families would find nothing wrong with a Bible passage expressing hope and peace.

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“Our employees are free to celebrate the Christmas and holiday season in the manner of their choosing,” the district wrote in a statement about pulling down the poster, according to Fox News. “However, employees are not permitted to impose their personal beliefs on students.”

Not so fast. The Texas Merry Christmas law, passed in 2013, stipulates that no school official in Texas can silence a biblical reference to Christmas.

Judge Jack Jones issued a temporary restraining order Thursday against the Killeen School District. The judge said in his order that the poster must include the words, “Ms. Shannon’s holiday message,” according to the Killeen Daily Herald News.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised the judge’s decision. “Religious discrimination toward Christians has become a holiday tradition of sorts among certain groups,” Paxton said in a statement. “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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Johnston Saenz, president of Texas Values, represented Ms. Shannon in court. He, too, applauded the decision by Judge Jones.

“Nothing says ‘Merry Christmas’ like a court victory for religious freedom in December in public schools,” Saenz said in a statement. “This scenario is exactly why the Merry Christmas law was written — to protect teachers, staff and students in their expression of the Christmas season,” He also called Ms. Shannon a “brave and faithful woman.”

“‘For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the Lord.’ That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown,” Linus said to his best friend, Charlie Brown.

That’s right, Linus. Thanks to Ms. Shannon and a right-minded judge, children in Patterson Middle School can be exposed to the reason for the season.