Atheist group asks school to drop out of Christmas concert
A Wisconsin-based atheist group is requesting the Whitefish High School choir cancel its participation in a holiday concert scheduled for this week.
Whitefish School District Superintendent Kate Orozco confirmed that the district received a letter from an attorney representing the Freedom From Religion Foundation organization.
The letter asks the district to cancel the choir’s participation in the Community Christmas Celebration. The high school’s Voce Primo Choir is scheduled to sing at the event sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In response to concerns, Orozco said the performance by the choir members is voluntary and will feature a combination of secular and sacred music.
“The Whitefish School District supports its music program and students, but does not endorse or oppose any religion or religious denomination,” she said in a prepared release.
The event has been advertised as a celebration of the “birth of our savior Jesus Christ.”
Orozco expressed regret that the event has been advertised in a way that may have led readers to believe that local school districts were endorsing religion.
The concert is scheduled to take place two nights at the church located on Whitefish Stage in Kalispell. The Whitefish choir is set to perform on Thursday, Dec. 5. On the same day the Flathead and Glacier high school choirs are also scheduled to sing. Other local individuals and groups are scheduled to perform as well at the concert.
The Flathead concert choir is also set to perform a holiday concert at the First Presbyterian Church in Kalispell.
In a letter to the Pilot, Richard Wackrow also expressed his concerns about the performances. Wackrow is the administrator of the Flathead Area Secular Humanist Association, a group that says its members are atheists, agnostics and freethinkers.
He claims to have contacted Kalispell school district officials and was told that students may opt out of Christian events. However, he said, the public school’s participation in a religious event constitutes an endorsement of that religion.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation organization has challenged the legality of the Jesus statue on Big Mountain and is involved in a lawsuit that asks for the six-foot statue to be removed from Flathead National Forest land. The Flathead Area Secular Humanist Association has also shown support for the lawsuit.