During what is often referred to as the holiday season, a variety of cultures and religions honor an equally diverse number of both religious and secular traditions. Christmas, Hanukkah, and Bodhi Day are just some of the religious holidays that are celebrated this time of year. And for many who don’t subscribe to a particular faith tradition, the season is still seen as an occasion to gather with friends and family.

No matter why you are celebrating this holiday season, we can all celebrate living in a country where religious freedom is a fundamental value. The First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses not only protect the right to believe (or not to believe), but also the right to express and to manifest religious beliefs.

In honor of our country’s proud history of promoting religious freedom, and the ACLU’s commitment to protecting the rights of all religious believers to practice their faith, this holiday season we are highlighting 12 cases we have brought on behalf of a variety of faiths defending religious liberty and the right to religious expression.

Twelfth Day: Standing Up For Christmas
Invariably during the run-up to Christmas, the ACLU is wrongfully disparaged for waging a mythical "War on Christmas." In fact, the ACLU zealously defends the right of both non-believers to practice no religion at all and religious believers, including Christians, to practice their religion freely. And the ACLU’s zeal certainly does not take a vacation during the holidays.

In 2003, The ACLU of Rhode Island interceded on behalf of an interdenominational group of carolers who were told they could not sing Christmas carols on Christmas Eve to inmates at the women’s prison in Cranston, RI. Because of our efforts, the prison relented and the prisoners were treated to caroling.

That same year, the ACLU of Massachusetts sued on behalf of a group of high school students who were disciplined by school officials for distributing candy canes with religious messages just before Christmas. The students, members of the school’s Bible Club, each received a one-day suspension for handing out the candy canes. The ACLU argued that the school’s actions interfered with the free speech rights of public high school students under both state law and the First Amendment, which proects their speech as long as it does not disrupt the educational process.

Religious expression is a valued and protected part of the First Amendment rights guaranteed to all citizens.  Christmas is pervasive in our society, both publicly and privately, and, except when the government is being used to promote and favor religious beliefs, it is entirely constitutional. Read more…

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For more instances of the ACLU rigorously defending the rights of all religious believers to practice their faiths, please visit our website.

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During what is often referred to as the holiday season, a variety of cultures and religions honor an equally diverse number of both religious and secular traditions. Christmas, Hanukkah, and Bodhi Day are just some of the religious holidays that are celebrated this time of year. And for many who don’t subscribe to a particular faith tradition, the season is still seen as an occasion to gather with friends and family.

No matter why you are celebrating this holiday season, we can all celebrate living in a country where religious freedom is a fundamental value. The First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses not only protect the right to believe (or not to believe), but also the right to express and to manifest religious beliefs.

In honor of our country’s proud history of promoting religious freedom, and the ACLU’s commitment to protecting the rights of all religious believers to practice their faith, this holiday season we are highlighting 12 cases we have brought on behalf of a variety of faiths defending religious liberty and the right to religious expression.

Eleventh Day: ACLU Helps a Prisoner Receive Proper Religious Diet
Around the world, many people of faith abide by dietary guidelines that are dictated by their religion. The ACLU supports the rights of individuals to worship as they see fit, and that includes the ability to access a diet consistent with one’s religious beliefs.

Officials at the Teller County Jail in Colorado determined that prisoners could not have “certain religious articles or diets.” That decision prompted one inmate, a practicing Seventh-Day Adventist to reach out to the ACLU of Colorado. The prisoner had repeatedly requested a diet in accordance with his religious beliefs, but was repeatedly denied. For months the inmate was unable to eat portions of the regular prison meals that would have violated his religious tenets, and as a result experienced health problems and lost significant weight.

The ACLU wrote a letter of inquiry which resulted in a revision of the jail’s policy to allow for religious accommodation. Read more…

See previous days »

For more instances of the ACLU rigorously defending the rights of all religious believers to practice their faiths, please visit our website.

Learn more about religious liberty: Sign up for breaking news alerts, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.

During what is often referred to as the holiday season, a variety of cultures and religions honor an equally diverse number of both religious and secular traditions. Christmas, Hanukkah, and Bodhi Day are just some of the religious holidays that are celebrated this time of year. And for many who don’t subscribe to a particular faith tradition, the season is still seen as an occasion to gather with friends and family.

No matter why you are celebrating this holiday season, we can all celebrate living in a country where religious freedom is a fundamental value. The First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses not only protect the right to believe (or not to believe), but also the right to express and to manifest religious beliefs.

In honor of our country’s proud history of promoting religious freedom, and the ACLU’s commitment to protecting the rights of all religious believers to practice their faith, this holiday season we are highlighting 12 cases we have brought on behalf of a variety of faiths defending religious liberty and the right to religious expression.

Tenth Day: A Mosque in Maine
Zoning regulations must not restrict religious expression, and the ACLU has fought on behalf of various religious groups to ensure they have the ability to worship freely in their communities.

The Maine Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the City of Portland on behalf of the Portland Masjid and Islamic Center, a group of Muslims seeking to build a mosque. The group had collectively purchased a small building, a former television repair shop, to use as a community center for prayer and education. Existing zoning laws classified the building as part of a residential and commercial zone. Religious activities were prohibited.

In response to the MCLU’s legal and advocacy efforts, Portland amended its land-use ordinance, and the Portland Planning Board granted approval to the project.

The mosque now primarily serves as a religious and cultural center for Muslim families who came to this country from Afghanistan fleeing religious persecution following invasion of their country by the Soviet Union. Read more…

See previous days »

For more instances of the ACLU rigorously defending the rights of all religious believers to practice their faiths, please visit our website.

Learn more about religious liberty: Sign up for breaking news alerts, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.

During what is often referred to as the holiday season, a variety of cultures and religions honor an equally diverse number of both religious and secular traditions. Christmas, Hanukkah, and Bodhi Day are just some of the religious holidays that are celebrated this time of year. And for many who don’t subscribe to a particular faith tradition, the season is still seen as an occasion to gather with friends and family.

No matter why you are celebrating this holiday season, we can all celebrate living in a country where religious freedom is a fundamental value. The First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses not only protect the right to believe (or not to believe), but also the right to express and to manifest religious beliefs.

In honor of our country’s proud history of promoting religious freedom, and the ACLU’s commitment to protecting the rights of all religious believers to practice their faith, this holiday season we are highlighting 12 cases we have brought on behalf of a variety of faiths defending religious liberty and the right to religious expression.

Ninth Day: ACLU Says Winter Solstice Display Must Be Allowed Alongside Other Religious Symbols at State Capitol
Religious expression – during the holidays and throughout the year – is a valued part of the First Amendment rights guaranteed all citizens, but government cannot be in the business of deciding which religious symbols to endorse and which to reject.

The Arkansas Society of Freethinkers sought to erect a Winter Solstice holiday display on the grounds of the Arkansas state capitol, to be displayed near the Christian crèche which has been on display on state capitol grounds each holiday season for over half a century. 　

The display depicts images of the Winter Solstice and the mythologies that arose from this celestial event, as well as suggested readings and quotes from famous philosophers, scientists, and other secular writers and thinkers.

In 2009, Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels denied the group’s request to erect the display, despite the fact that it meets the requirements of the state capitol display policy and despite the presence of the other, religious display on the grounds. With the help of the ACLU of Arkansas the group sued, asserting that their free speech rights had been violated, and won. Read more…

During what is often referred to as the holiday season, a variety of cultures and religions honor an equally diverse number of both religious and secular traditions. Christmas, Hanukkah, and Bodhi Day are just some of the religious holidays that are celebrated this time of year. And for many who don’t subscribe to a particular faith tradition, the season is still seen as an occasion to gather with friends and family.

No matter why you are celebrating this holiday season, we can all celebrate living in a country where religious freedom is a fundamental value. The First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses not only protect the right to believe (or not to believe), but also the right to express and to manifest religious beliefs.

In honor of our country’s proud history of promoting religious freedom, and the ACLU’s commitment to protecting the rights of all religious believers to practice their faith, this holiday season we are highlighting 12 cases we have brought on behalf of a variety of faiths defending religious liberty and the right to religious expression.

Eighth Day: The ACLU Opposes Puerto Rico Law Restricting Access To Public Streets on Behalf of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Public streets have served as a forum for free speech for generations, and practitioners of all faiths have the right to proclaim their faith on the street. Earlier this year, the ACLU, its national chapter in Puerto Rico and its affiliates in New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing unconstitutional laws that effectively ban Jehovah’s Witnesses from freely expressing their faith in the streets of Puerto Rico.

The brief supported a constitutional challenge to Puerto Rico laws, enacted in 1987, that authorize neighborhoods to deny citizens access to public residential streets by erecting walls and gates around them. The laws effectively prohibit Jehovah’s Witnesses from engaging in the door-to-door public ministry for which they are well known worldwide. The federal lawsuit was filed by the approximately 25,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Puerto Rico, as well as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., the publisher of religious material that is often distributed by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Jehovah’s Witnesses accept a religious duty to share the Bible’s message publicly and to proselytize from house to house. They engage in door-to-door ministry, communicate about the Bible with people on public streets, and offer religious literature to anyone interested in reading it. The ACLU argued that Puerto Rico law unfairly limits Jehovah’s Witnesses ability to express this tenant of faith. Read more…

See previous days »

For more instances of the ACLU rigorously defending the rights of all religious believers to practice their faiths, please visit our website.

Learn more about religious liberty: Sign up for breaking news alerts, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.