In Mansfield, Texas Thursday, Jaren Burch, a fourth grader who was at first told that he could not hand out candy canes with a story of their connection to Jesus attached at his class' party, was able to do so. Today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the reversal by school officials came after the Liberty Legal Institute sent a letter to the school demanding that the student's first amendment rights be respected. A school district spokesman said that the teacher had gone a bit too far in trying to be sensitive to students with different backgrounds at this time of year. The student's father, Jason Burch said, "I'm sick and tired of people trying to pretend that Christmas is not about Christ. There wouldn't be a Christmas without Christ. It goes against my son's First Amendment right. If a Muslim student brought something, I would not have a problem. If it was something I didn't agree with, then I would simply throw it away."
By the way, Snopes.com says the claim that candy canes originated to represent the letter "J" and the purity and blood of Christ is a false urban legend. However, it says, candy canes do have a Christmas connection. A choirmaster in Cologne Cathedral in 1670 persuaded craftsmen to make sticks of candy bent at the end to represent shepherds' crooks so he could hand them out to restless youngsters who were attending ceremonies around a living creche.
