The annual battle over Christmas and the separation of Church and State is on. In Philadelphia, the city's Managing Director ordered the word "Christmas" removed from sign at the entrance to the "German Christmas Village" at City Hall. The Mayor then countermanded him, and directed that "Christmas" be put back. See here. (For one response, see here.) What to say?
For my own preliminary take on the perennial Christmas wars, in which I argue that the issues involved are serious and legitimately difficult, but also possibly insoluble, see here.
In any event, Happy Hannukah.
Also posted on lawreligionethics.net.
What a lot of folks don't get is that religion is ritual. What makes people religions, like Muslims, Jews and Catholics, is not their beliefs, but their participation in ritual. Martin Luther caused a change in his insistence on Justification by Faith, where observance of ritual is secondary, unnecessary or even offensive, as in icon worship.
It follows that any government-imposed ritual is per se religious, including moments of silence, flag waving, pledges of allegiance and Veterans' Day parades. As an atheist and freethinker, I find them highly offensive and refuse to participate.
A government-sponsored "commercial Christmas" would be just as offensive as a "religious Christmas" imposed upon me by the Pope. Every citizen has the Liberty right to be free from such government assault, especially when he is forced to sponsor it through his taxes.
Posted by: Jimbino | 12/03/2010 at 09:07 AM