Alliance Defense Fund attorneys sent a letter Monday to the mayor and officials of the city of Merced urging them to change the name of the town's newly dubbed holiday parade back to the Christmas parade.City officials replaced "Christmas" with "holiday" in the name of the town's public parade, but ADF attorneys have assured them that, if the change was motivated by fear of lawsuits, keeping the former name is a decision that is constitutionally protected. "It's ridiculous that the people of Merced have to think twice about whether it's OK to have a 'Christmas' parade. An overwhelming majority of Americans celebrate Christmas and are opposed to any kind of censorship of Christmas," said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. "City officials shouldn't self-censor the perfectly constitutional name of their town's Christmas parade because of unfounded beliefs spread by groups hostile to our nation's traditions." The city of Merced has held the annual Christmas parade since 1995, but this year, on Dec. 5, the new "Downtown Holiday Parade" is scheduled to take its place. ADF attorneys contacted city officials through a letter encouraging them to uphold their town's traditions and retain the name of the Christmas parade in full confidence that such a decision would be constitutionally protected. ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith.

********** Published: December 4, 2009 - Volume 8 - Issue 32