The Italian ruling party would use the force of the law to celebrate Christmas in schools.
The Italian right-wing party, the Italian Brothers (FdI), wants to make traditional Christmas holiday symbols mandatory in educational institutions and would punish school principals who remove nativity scenes.
The party introduced a bill to prevent the construction of nativity scenes and the removal of other Christmas and Easter symbols from any educational institution in Italy.
The proposal was submitted by Lavinia Mennuni, senator of the Italian Brothers, in the parliament on Wednesday. We say yes to Christmas, no to the so-called winter holiday, he said.
The draft law initiates disciplinary proceedings against principals who remove nativity scenes from schools.
The Italian Brothers consider it unacceptable that the holidays are "separated from the country's cultural and historical traditions" and "deprived of their moral content".
Lavinia Mennuni explained that some educational institutions have been making "unacceptable and disturbing" decisions for a few years, forbidding the display of Nativity scenes in schools or completely changing the deep message of the Christmas holidays "by organizing impossible winter celebrations on the grounds of not offending believers of other religions".
With the law, all this will no longer be possible for parents, students, or other individuals or organizations, he added, stressing that the proposal has already been signed by many senators.
Get your hands off Nativity! said Mennuni. He noted that Christian holidays are part of the Italian national identity.
MTI
Cover image: The Vatican nativity scene
Source: Facebook/Vatican News
