Merry Christmas.

I say that, rather than Happy Holidays, because today is Dec. 25th, Christmas Day, a fact of the calendar. I hope it will be merry in the ways that make each person a little happier, a little less lonesome, a little more aglow -- no matter how they acknowledge the day.

The press, which enjoys the explicitly stated right of free speech, returns the respect that right gives it by copying another Constitutional provision, freedom from promoting an established religion. A newspaper may say Merry Christmas on the front page, but next week it will say Happy New Year in the same vein, neither of them any more sectarian than Turn the Clock Back Tonight. For news organizations it is a matter of principle and good business not to be “pro” a given religion. All should feel welcome to read and subscribe with no whiff of exclusion because of their beliefs or disbelief.

The opposite of pro is not “anti,” in reporting the news; the opposite is respectful fairness. Ideally, the same goes for public schools, although educators and school boards are wrestling with increasing challenges to fact-based curriculum from critics who would tailor the teaching of history to their own, ostensibly Christian, beliefs.

The man in charge of education for the federal government, Secretary Miguel Cardona, sees it differently, for which we should be grateful this Christmas Day and every day.

Cardona recently sat for an interview with Religion News Service, a respected online source for objectively reported stories about faith institutions and leaders. Before he was a member of President Biden’s Cabinet he headed the Connecticut Department of Education. He told RNS a story of Vice President Kamala Harris asking him about a lapel pin he wore at Biden’s announcement of his nomination.

The vice president wanted to know what was in the pin. A mustard seed, Cardona told her. She caught the biblical reference to “faith the size of a mustard seed,” which is supposed to be able to move mountains.

Cardona, who is open about his own Christian faith, said his purpose is to protect all students and help them feel comfortable in school, including protecting their religious freedom. He confers with leaders of different faith traditions who, as he noted, have a role in addressing students’ mental health issues after Covid affected their schooling and family life.

A safe environment for learning, where students can freely be themselves and not have to hide or change what they believe, is necessary so they will learn “to think critically and be consumers of truth,” he told RNS.

Teaching about religion and its impact on history and the world today is vital, but it is emphatically not the same as teaching religion. Cardona said it would be wrong to teach “even with a slant” in public schools.

In the interview, the secretary emerges as a person shaped by his own faith and determined to allow others the same freedom. While some faith adherents feel compelled to spread their beliefs, the constitutional separation of church and state establishes that a public school curriculum is not the place for it.

A newsroom has no constitutional impediment to talking about faith, but it usually possesses the powerful deterrent of peer pressure. One never has to fear being evangelized because journalists like to think of themselves as professional skeptics. They often are, but when I covered the religion beat I was blown away by the number of colleagues who came to me without fanfare to tip me off to a possible lead: “You know, there’s a good story in my church....” I would never have known they went to church, but I did know them as ethical, sincere people.

Faith can be practiced openly without bullying, as they did and Secretary Cardona does. He said in his RNS interview that if it weren’t for the Catholic faith his family brought with them from Puerto Rico to Meriden, he wouldn’t be where he is today. He is a product of public schools who conducts his life and work in keeping with the values of his faith. He would be a good model for people who sincerely want to spread their faith, rather than trying to enforce it.

And a Happy New Year.

Lisa McGinley is a member of The Day Editorial Board.