Public School = Atheism Propagation Instrument

"The tenth plank in Karl Marx's Manifesto for destroying our kind of civilization advocated the establishment of "free education for all children in public schools." There were several reasons why Marx wanted government to run the schools. Dr. A. A. Hodge pointed out one of them when he said, "It is capable of exact demonstration that if every party in the State has the right of excluding from public schools whatever he does not believe to be true, then he that believes most must give way to him that believes least, and then he that believes least must give way to him that believes absolutely nothing, no matter in how small a minority the atheists or agnostics may be. It is self-evident that on this scheme, if it is consistently and persistently carried out in all parts of the country, the United States system of national popular education will be the most efficient and widespread instrument for the propagation of atheism which the world has ever seen."
-- Elder Ezra Taft Benson in Conference Report, October 1970, p. 25

Regarding this, see the following recent article from the Deseret News: Founders did not mean to banish religion says,

In Granite School District, teachers are scared to wish students a merry Christmas. They're not even sure they can mention the word Christmas, and, if so, in what way?
An annual district memo cautions them about the discussion of Christmas because it could exclude someone. The administrators try to define the policy in clearer terms, with more hair splitting — Christmas parties are out, holiday parties are in, etc. — but who knows what it all means? It's all nebulous legal mumbo jumbo.
In a lame attempt to "clarify" itself, the district wrote that "holiday" parties can be held, "so long as we can articulate the pedagogical objectives from the curriculum that provide the basis of the activity and the activity doesn't promote or denigrate any particular religion or religion in general."