There’s nothing wrong with a public school teacher reading a book about Santa Claus to children. It’s in the spirit of the season.

The line is crossed, however, when a teacher basically tells kids the story of the birth of Christ. Or tells them the colors of a candy cane represent Jesus. Or reads them The Crippled Lamb, written by a pastor, all about how “God has a unique plan for everyone.” Or has students watch an animated movie about Jesus being born.

Teachers at Lincoln Elementary School in Warsaw, Indiana did all of those things.

That’s why the Northern Indiana Atheists sent a letter to the district demanding they put a stop to it.

The local CBS affiliate — eager to cover “both sides” of the story without admitting that what the teachers did was illegal (because why do the responsible thing?) — has plenty of commentary from ignorant parents:

An atheist group has issued a complaint about stories mentioning Christ’s birth being read to students before Christmas break. That letter was issued to Warsaw Community Schools about three instances at Lincoln Elementary. I’ll have both sides tonight at 5! — Brooke O’Daniel WSBT (@BOdanielWSBT) January 7, 2020

Supporters of the teachers say that Christian teachers should be able to “live their faith out in their day-to-day lives.” … Parents and grandparents gathered at the school Monday night to pray for the staff at Lincoln Elementary. “We just came to show our support to the teachers and school and the students,” said John Lowe. Lowe has grandchildren in the school system and is a local pastor. “Nobody is mad, I would say they are more stunned,” said Lowe, “and decided we’re not going to cave in anymore. We’re not just going to allow people to take our rights from us, when we have as many rights as they do and they do as we do.”

Jesus H. Christ. If a non-Christian teacher took advantage of a captive audience to tell kids all about the awesomeness of Satan, or that God is a myth, or that everyone should say “Allahu Akbar” together, you know damn well these same parents would be up in arms about other teachers exercising their supposed “rights.”

They want Christian supremacy. They don’t give a damn about religious freedom. And it’s absolutely irresponsible for any news organization to just broadcast their quotations without saying, very bluntly, that they have no clue what they’re talking about.

There are no two equal sides to this story. One of them is wrong. The teachers need to be reprimanded, at the very least, and the district needs to instruct all staffers to follow the damn law.

