Judge orders Texas school to restore Charlie Brown Christmas poster with biblical reference

A Texas judge has ordered a school district to restore a decoration that included a biblical verse recited by Linus in the 1960s TV special “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

Officials in the Killeen school district north of Austin ordered a nurse’s aide, Dedra Shannon, to remove a handmade decoration featuring a Bible verse from the special, fearing it violated prohibitions on religion in classrooms.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued to get it restored, arguing the state’s 2013 so-called Merry Christmas law means schools can’t “silence a biblical reference to Christmas.”

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The Houston Chronicle reports that Judge Jack Jones ruled Thursday the display should be put back up with an added line calling it “Ms. Shannon’s Christmas message.”

WATCH: (Dec. 14) A Texas school employee was forced to remove a Charlie Brown-themed Christmas door decoration because the poster cited a quote from the film ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ which contained a verse from the Bible.