Salvos in the War on Christmas

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Dear Barry,

You are a very clever opponent, but I must insist on a straight answer to the basic question: Is a Christmas tree a celebration of religion?

I don't mean to be tiresome by repeating this question, but it is crucial, and here's why: Celebration of religion in school would be impermissible under the general rule you and I both subscribe to, which is simply that education about religion is ok and celebration of religion is not.

Most Christians do not recognize a Christmas tree or a Santa Claus, or the colors red and green or the word Christmas itself as religious symbols. And neither does the Supreme Court of the United States. So when you have school districts, public parks, libraries, and city halls declaring these secular symbols to be religious, there is a reasonable suspicion that they are doing so out of hostility to the religion related (distantly related) to these symbols, and that animosity or hostility is itself unconstitutional, as government is barred from prohibiting the free exercise of religion. What could be a greater inhibition on the practice of religion than to have a government official in a school or a park or a library or a city hall sending a message that a certain religion is not welcome because some people are offended by the presence of even secondary symbols of that religion?

Christmas is celebrated, observed, or participated in by 96% of the country, according to various recent polls. Only 84% self-identifies as Christian. So one would conclude that a sizeable number of non-Christians still observe or participate in Christmas. Of the 84% of the county who self-identify as Christian, only about half go to church every week or month, and for the other half Christmas might be the only time of the year they observe even a tangential holiday of their religion. Together these groups make a very formidable opponent, and it is curious the secularists of this country would want both the Christian religionists and the Christian secularists joining together to oppose them in a fight over the festivities of the Christmas season.

Of course, politicians are reclaiming the "Christmas" tree from the "holiday" trap. Their constituents have noticed what is going on, and they think the "inclusiveness" of "holiday" has morphed into excluding Christian symbols and words. It's a big majority, and the majority would like to have their holiday without having an organization founded by a guy who thinks the ACLU wusses out on Christianity telling them they have to stifle themselves. I am, of course, referring to you and your organization, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

Sure there is a War on Christmas. It is an insurgency, and the insurgents will not win, but it is a war nonetheless. The problem is people like you, Barry. That's because you and your group are so rigid about what you see as unconstitutional mix of church and state, that you regard any mix as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is not in agreement, and I wish you would take the court's leadership, if for no other reason that by doing so you will help quell some of the outrageous and dangerous amateur constitutional lawyering that is going on in places like school board offices and city halls.

But Barry... I don't blame your personally. You continue to be a nice person, a gentleman, and a fine interlocutor on this subject.

And Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Bountiful Kwanzaa, Magnificent Eid, a great Diwali, and don't forget to rub Buddha's belly.

For good luck.

Yours, jg

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