Christmas out of the Culture and the Christ out of Christmas

Dr. Munoz, a professor at Tufts University and a law scholar, gave an excellent synopsis of the different positions that could be held on the separation of church and state. You could be a strict separationist and believe that the government must be completely separated from religion. As such, the government will lean toward secularism instead of true neutrality. The other side of the spectrum is somewhat more divided. You could be a secular traditionalist and say that because our founding fathers were religious, it is ok for this current government to be as well. The second division is the "no coercion" school. You can believe what you want, as long as you do not coerce others into a mandatory belief system. Finally, you could subset the "no coercion" branch to say no psychological coercion, meaning you can't have displays of overt religion in schools or other public institutions.

Apparently, the government (and some elements in the popular culture) seems to be leaning toward the secular separationist viewpoint. Although there are plenty of examples, I am referring specifically to Christmas. This is not a new controversy. For example, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito ruled as a 3rd Circuit Court Judge on a case involving a Christmas display in 1999. In the end, the nativity display was allowed (I kid you not) because of the relative prominence of Frosty, Santa, and the Jewish Menorah.

So we come to the issue I have with "Happy Holidays" and the government's seeming multi-religious requirement. How many practicing atheists, Hindus, Jews, or what have you are actually offended by a person's saying "Merry Christmas" or seeing a Christian Christmas display? I like Michael Medved's analogy: If I am a single bachelor living alone, and someone says to me "Best regards to you and your family," I am not going to get angry, offended, or even peeved at that person. I understand that the comment was made with good intentions, and I will accept it at face value. Why people cannot do the same with a federally recognized holiday is beyond me.

Christmas belongs in the culture as a Christian holiday, not only for traditional reasons, but also because there is no "coercion" involved. Eliminating the religious aspect of the holiday has no solid basis. Despite this, it is frowned upon to say "Merry Christmas" in school or the workplace.

However warranted Christmas may be, we still hit the same controversy. When Representative Joann Davis introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives regarding Christmas, there was a major outcry. Another representative wrote a bill using H. Rez. 579 as a template. He replaced "Christmas" with "Hannakah, Kwanza, and Ramadan." Fortunately, Davis's resolution actually passed the House. When a country has to pass a bill saying that "[The House]

(1) recognizes the importance of the symbols and traditions of Christmas ;

(2) strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas ; and

(3) expresses support for the use of these symbols and traditions," we are obviously going in a wayward direction. As Representative Davis asked, "When did Christmas get so offensive?"

Thus, in the spirit of the holidays, "Happy Christmahunnakwanzadays!" (and Merry Christmas!)