Public schools in Portland, Oregon, have banned their Christmas choirs from participating in the annual festival organized at city level, after an atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter addressed to a number of schools in the region saying that it was unconstitutional for government schools to associate with Christian events.
Portland celebrated the Christmas Festival of Lights at Grotto Shrine for decades, with the participation of the schools and other organizations.
FFRF sent a letter to the district authorities complaining about students taking part in the festival, and the admission fee charged for the event. Christine Miles, spokeswoman for Portland Public Schools, said that the district officials looked over the risk of legal action posed if the schools chose to participate in future events.
"It was a sad decision for us to make and it was a hard decision," Miles told the Oregonian. "If we know there is a legal risk and we don't do anything, then that's not the right thing to do."
"Well, you know, we run into how do we want to best our very limited budget. Do we want to go to court on a case that we believe we could be in violation of? That would not be a good, fiscally responsible thing to do," she told KOIN-TV.
Miles added that choir directors are disheartened that their students will not be able to sing at the festival, and that their district never received such a complaint in the last 25 years.
"Just because it's a tradition doesn't mean it's legal. Whole generations of students in Portland are being sent the message that it's fine for public schools to promote Catholic events," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF's co-president.
About 300 public school students participated in the choir every year. Though the students are permitted to voluntarily take part in the choir, without any assistance from the school, the vacant slots have already been filled by other teams for this year.
