A major county in Washington state received an “Ebenezer Award” from a religious liberty advocacy group after banning Christian and Jewish holiday decorations this year.
King County, Washington, which is the most populous county in the state and home to Seattle, won the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s Ebenezer Award for its strict “Guidelines for Holiday Decorations,” according to an announcement from the group Tuesday. last.
The guidelines, which were laid out in a memo obtained by journalist Jason Rantz, stipulated that county employees were not allowed to display religious items, including nativity sets, menorahs, the Star of David or the crucifix in their work areas. common and virtual workspaces at home.
The memo, authored by Gloria Ngezaho, who serves as the Workforce Equity Manager for the King County Department of Human Resources, laid out the county’s reasoning in warning that religious gatherings in common areas “may cause disruption to co-workers or members of the public who do not share that particular religion.”
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The Space Needle and Mount Rainier are seen in the Seattle, Washington skyline on February 11, 2017.
(REUTERS/Chris Helgren)
“Some employees may not share their religion, practice any religion, or share their enthusiasm for Christmas decorations. Displays of religious symbols may only be displayed in an employee’s personal workspace,” the memo says.
In a news release calling King County “the most outrageous offender” this holiday season, Becket likened his annual Ebenezer award to “a lump of coal [delivered] as an acknowledgment of scroogery on a large scale”.
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An elementary age boy lighting the menorah candles with a long match for the Hanukkah celebration during the holiday.
(iStock)
Past Ebenezer Prize winners include the American Humanist Association, which tried to stop schools from providing assistance to underprivileged children; the Department of Veterans Affairs, which prohibited staff at its Salem, Virginia, facility from wishing veterans a “Merry Christmas”; and the University of Minnesota, which has banned the display on campus of holiday-themed items like Santas, bows, dreidels, wrapped gifts and even certain colors.
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“King County religious employees will likely feel like the looted residents of Whoville this Christmas and Hanukkah season,” Montse Alvarado, Becket’s COO and CEO, said in a statement. “The government has no right to rob its employees of the holiday cheer by forcing them to take down their nativity scenes and menorahs, particularly in their own homes.”
Nativity scene in Lviv, Ukraine, December 18, 2022.
(Photo by Olena Znak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“This is the time of year that Americans should come together in the Christmas spirit to support one another and spread joy and hope,” Alvarado said. “But as always, there are bureaucrats like those in King County who cut religion out of the holiday season. Let’s hope their hearts grow a little this Christmas.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the King County Department of Human Resources for comment.
