Homeland security officials labeled the ACLU threatening letters to 137 Tennessee schools as “terrorism events and other suspicious activity.” The letter warned that reducing Christmas nomenclature to “Winter Holiday” isn't good enough, rather, the entire seasonal celebration must be eliminated because Muslim holiday's are not celebrated.
-- From "ACLU Warns Schools . . ." posted at Cookeville Times 12/8/10
School superintendents across the state were reminded by the ACLU this week that holiday celebrations focusing primarily on one religious holiday amount to an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) letter, addressed to 137 public shool leaders across the state, stated that it was responding to a number of complaints from families about school party activites this Christmas season.
Said one area teacher (name withheld), "I respect people of different faiths, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to eliminate my own from my work and and my classroom. I can enjoy Christmas as Christmas without worrying that I'm going to offend someone. My money still says that I trust in God. Are they going to stop me from using that, too?"
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From "ACLU targets Christmas in TN schools" by Bill Bumpas, OneNewsNow 12/17/10
. . . David Cortman, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) [said the letter is] "...basically saying that if you're going to celebrate any aspect of Christmas at all, then you're constitutionally required to celebrate every holiday -- which of course is not true."
ADF has responded with a letter of its own to the school districts, informing them they do not have to deny students and teachers their constitutionally protected right to recognize Christmas just because of the threats issued by the ACLU. "It's just the ACLU using their bully pulpit to try to whitewash anything religious from society, even if that includes Christmas," states Cortman.
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From "ACLU bristles over terror list" by Andy Sher, Chattanooga Times Free Press 12/22/10
State anti-terrorism officials listed the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee on an Internet map detailing "terrorism events and other suspicious activity" after the group warned schools to ensure holiday celebrations "are inclusive."
ACLU-Tennessee Executive Director Hedy Weinberg called the Tennessee Fusion Center's tracking of First Amendment-protected activity "deeply disturbing."
Tennessee's Fusion Center was created in 2007, one of dozens established nationwide following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
The purpose was to help state agencies pool and analyze information about terrorism and other threats. It is a collaborative effort by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security.
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From "ACLU placed on Tennessee terror map for letter to schools" by Daniel Tencer, Raw Story Media 12/23/10
A fusion center spokesman told the Nashville City Paper that it was a mistake to have labeled the ACLU's letter as a "terrorist" event and said the tag on the map should have been labeled "general information."
But the City Paper found that the ACLU icon had instead been reclassified as "general terrorism news."
"You can argue that you don’t like the word terrorism in there, but it’s just general news that’s provided," fusion center spokesman Mike Browning responded to City Paper. "That’s the general news category. It doesn’t have anything to do with terrorism. It was just provided to schools as general information."
"After the City Paper pointed out to Browning that the entire map was labeled 'terrorism events and other suspicious activity' on the website, that was changed to 'open source news reports,'" the paper reported.
As of Thursday evening, the icon identifying the ACLU appeared to have been removed from the map altogether.
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