{"id":14643,"date":"2020-11-19T13:41:47","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T18:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=14643"},"modified":"2020-11-19T13:41:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T18:41:47","slug":"kansas-school-cancels-operation-christmas-child-following-atheist-group-complaint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2020\/11\/kansas-school-cancels-operation-christmas-child-following-atheist-group-complaint","title":{"rendered":"Kansas School Cancels Operation Christmas Child Following Atheist Group Complaint"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_14649\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14649\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2020\/11\/gifts-presents-wrapping-bows-e1605811235224.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14649\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2020\/11\/gifts-presents-wrapping-bows-e1605811235224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"465\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14649\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">pxfuel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A Kansas middle school is now ending its participation in the Operation Christmas Child project after an atheist group claimed that the school\u2019s involvement is unconstitutional,\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Christian Headlines<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0reports.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan\u2019s Purse that provides shoeboxes filled with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items for children in need around the holidays.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to \u201cprovide God\u2019s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Samaritan\u2019s Purse is a Christian ministry that has a goal of impacting 11 million children through the Operation Christian Child initiative.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed the complaint, urging the local superintendent to take action and halt the middle school\u2019s involvement. FFRF claimed that a concerned staff member made the initial complaint.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Following the Nov. 7 letter, Superintendent Tony Helfrich said that the district would be discontinuing participation with Operation Christian Child \u201cupon learning that its mission is more sectarian in nature than we realized.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cWhile it is laudable for a public school to promote student involvement in the community by volunteering and donating to charitable organizations, the school cannot use that goal as an avenue to fund a religious organization with a religious mission,\u201d FFRF wrote in their letter. \u201cCertainly, there are other secular non-profit organizations that offer charitable opportunities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cWe request that the District investigate these serious violations and take immediate action to ensure that all of its staff understand and respect their constitutional obligation to remain neutral toward religion while acting in their official capacity,\u201d FFRF said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">According to its bylaws, FFRF was created to promote the constitutional principle of separation of church and state to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism. The organization commonly represents atheists, in addition to agnostics and skeptics.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Kansas middle school is now ending its participation in the Operation Christmas Child project after an atheist group claimed that the school\u2019s involvement is unconstitutional,\u00a0Christian Headlines\u00a0reports. Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan\u2019s Purse that provides shoeboxes filled with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items for children in need around the holidays. The&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kansas School Cancels Operation Christmas Child Following Atheist Group Complaint<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kansas School Cancels Operation Christmas Child Following Atheist Group Complaint\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Kansas middle school is now ending its participation in the Operation Christmas Child project after an atheist group claimed that the school\u2019s involvement is unconstitutional,\u00a0Christian Headlines\u00a0reports. Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan\u2019s Purse that provides shoeboxes filled with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items for children in need around the holidays. The&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2020\/11\/kansas-school-cancels-operation-christmas-child-following-atheist-group-complaint\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-19T18:41:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2020\/11\/gifts-presents-wrapping-bows-e1605811235224.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lesli White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kansas School Cancels Operation Christmas Child Following Atheist Group Complaint","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kansas School Cancels Operation Christmas Child Following Atheist Group Complaint","og_description":"A Kansas middle school is now ending its participation in the Operation Christmas Child project after an atheist group claimed that the school\u2019s involvement is unconstitutional,\u00a0Christian Headlines\u00a0reports. Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan\u2019s Purse that provides shoeboxes filled with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items for children in need around the holidays. 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