Tea Baggers Demand Mandatory Xmas Carols

Initiative seeks to force Calif. schools to offer festive music
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 11, 2009 2:33 AM CST
Tea Baggers Demand Mandatory Xmas Carols
A California woman is seeking a ballot initiative to make Christmas carols mandatory at the state's schools.   (AP Photo/Santiago Llanquin)

Members of the Tea Party movement are fighting to force California schoolchildren to sing Christmas carols. Substitute teacher Merry Hyatt has partnered with churches to gain signatures for the ballot initiative, which would require children to either sing or perform Christmas songs at school. Penalties would be imposed on schools that don't comply.

"Bottom line is Christmas is about Christmas," the president of the local Tea Party Patriots tells the Redding Record Searchlight. "That's why we have it. It's not about winter solstice or Kwanzaa." An analyst at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, however, says the proposal hasn't got a snowball's chance. "I have two words to say about Ms. Hyatt's proposal: blatantly unconstitutional," he noted. (More Merry Hyatt stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X