Election-year pandering by state politicians is not usually newsworthy, but a recent effort to “reinforce” religious freedoms in Alabama schools by state Sen. Gerald Allen (R-Tuscaloosa) is so hopelessly convoluted that it has made waves across the country.
According to the text of SB18 (which was passed by the state Senate Feb. 13 and is now being reviewed by the House Education Committee), the Winter Celebrations Act, would “allow each school district to educate students about the history of traditional winter celebrations and allow students and district staff to offer traditional greetings regarding the celebrations.”
If SB18 does what Allen says it will do, then the bill is, by definition, redundant and ineffectual as a public policy because the right to religious expression in schools is already guaranteed under the Supreme Court’s existing interpretation of the First Amendment. So long as there isn’t more emphasis placed on one religion over another, holiday greetings may be exchanged freely, and students may learn about winter celebrations.
Eric Mackey, the executive director of School Superintendents of Alabama, has denied that any necessary context exists for the passage of such a law in the first place, noting that superintendents across the state haven’t reported any problems in the past.
“I don’t think it is needed,” he said.
Even the Alabama Citizens’ Action Program, a biblical fundamentalist lobbying group that supported the legislation, has conceded that the bill will not produce any substantive legal effect: “We know that students already have the right [to express their religious views], but this reinforces that right.”
Are we expected to believe that by simply overlaying the First Amendment with superfluous legislation, Sen. Allen’s bill will somehow reinforce, in new and meaningful ways, rights that are already guaranteed in the Constitution and confirmed by judicial precedent? Isn’t it more likely that Allen’s bill does not aim to expand our religious freedoms at all, but rather seeks to circumscribe them?
This more malignant interpretation of the bill stems from the repeated use of the word, “traditional,” which appears 10 times in Sen. Allen’s two-page document. What exactly does “traditional” mean?
Based on the text and history of the bill, it means, exclusively, those religious beliefs predicated on a Judeo-Christian worldview. “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hanukkah” and “Happy Holidays” are the only greetings mentioned specifically within the text of the bill, and when Sen. Quinton Ross (D-Montgomery) attempted to add celebrations like Kwanzaa and Hindu and Muslim observances to its purview, the Senate blocked him on a voice vote.
Read in this sense, SB18 seems less like a genuine endorsement of religious freedoms in Alabama schools and more like a poorly disguised effort to protect the conservative Judeo-Christian order by pushing back on an increasingly diverse cultural and religious landscape. In its true effect, SB18 may well represent a step toward codifying Christianity as the educational religion of the state. By limiting the extension of religious freedoms to only those “traditional faiths” and subsequently formulating a definitive list of which faiths qualify as “traditional,” SB18 promotes a culture of religious exclusion and systematically demeans adherents of “non-traditional” faiths. The very absence of “non-traditional” faiths within the language and passage of the bill is a silence that deafens.
I usually wouldn’t waste time attacking such a blatant election-year gimmick by the Evangelical Right. But in a legislative session brimming over with issues that demand serious attention, Sen. Allen is not working on prison reform or education reform or government transparency reform or any other kind of reform which this state desperately needs to continue moving forward. Sen. Allen, an elected representative of Tuscaloosa County, is spending valuable time and taxpayer dollars to write SB18, presumably to make sure teachers aren’t confused as to whether or not they can say “Merry Christmas” during the holidays.
Citizens in Tuscaloosa County and throughout the state of Alabama deserve better. They deserve better than a senator who prioritizes theocratic agenda over real and urgent policy problems and makes private religious choice a commodity for public consumption. They deserve better than a “Winter Celebrations” bill that is redundant at best and is a veiled affront to the separation of church and state at worst. They deserve better than Sen. Gerald Allen.
Henry Downes is a junior majoring in economics and political science. His column runs biweekly.
