Feb 21, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The Thomas More Law Center has petitioned the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to rehear a case challenging an anti-Christian policy of the New York City school system.
Recently, a sharply divided three-judge panel of the circuit court ruled that it was constitutionally permissible for New York City public schools to ban the display of the Christian Nativity during Christmas, while permitting and encouraging the display of Jewish menorahs and Islamic star and crescents during Hanukkah and Ramadan.
The City defended its policy by arguing that the menorah, star and crescent were permissible symbols because they were “secular,” whereas the nativity scene had to be excluded because it was “purely religious.”
Despite the fact that the appellate court disagreed with the City’s characterization of the Jewish and Muslim symbols, it nonetheless, upheld the policy.