The misguided war on Christmas

[depakid]

Other than the hot, hot days of summer, Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love Christmas lights and decorating a tree and shopping for presents. I love celebrating Advent in a greenery-draped church and singing carols as the Christmas lights glow bright around us. And most definitely, I love Christmas Eve services, when we gather around a Nativity to celebrate Jesus' birth.

Yet, even though I love Christmas and all its decorating splendor, I'm convinced Christmas displays should not appear in government-owned spaces. Nativities and other Christian symbols of Christmas don't belong in state capitols, in courthouses, in city parks. More accurately, it is because I am a Christian that I am convinced the government should not be celebrating Jesus' birth.

Somewhere in the country every year, though, conflicts flame about the presence of Christian-specific decorations in government spaces. Washington state is among the latest to enter the fray, with atheist and Christian groups duking it out over decorating the Capitol building. Some claim that government organizations should be free to include Nativities in their Christmas displays, while others argue that doing so violates the Constitution's First Amendment. The battles have in places become so fierce that some on the right -- such as the Liberty Counsel and Fox television commentator Bill O'Reilly -- have declared that there's a "War on Christmas," claiming that secularists are trying to destroy "the reason for the season."

Not only do I believe the Prince of Peace would reject any militaristic language about "war" over his birth, I'm also convinced that Christians should not engage in crusades about Christmas decorations in the public square. For while O'Reilly and gang blame the Christmas war on secularists, it's important to remember that many Christians are also strong proponents of the separation of church and state, and believe that the government has no business endorsing Christianity, either explicitly or implicitly. Yet by placing Nativities in capitol buildings and city parks, the government is advocating for Christianity to the exclusion of other faiths embraced by its citizens.

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2008/12/the_misguided_war_on_christmas.html