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The Politics of Christmas

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By Frank Shannon

Published: December 13, 2006

Brandon, FL - Brandon, FL - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. From the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

It's that time of year again -- Christmas -- and one would hope the emphasis is on "Christ."

Of course, the commercialized version has been in department stores since before Halloween.

Christmas decorations and displays, especially those huge, clear-plastic snow bubbles for front lawns, were popping up while we were still wiping the late-summer sweat from our brows.

But let's not forget the unfortunate political side of Christmas, thanks to the attempts made by the American Civil Liberties Union (or the American Criminal Liberals Union, more accurately) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State to ban nativity scenes on any kind of public property, such as courthouses, schools, and other government buildings.

First of all, let me articulate with all due force and clarity that the phrase "separation of church and state" appears nowhere in the Constitution! A variation of that term was actually coined by Thomas Jefferson in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut. The exact wording described "a wall of separation between church and state." The Sacrilegious Left has seized on the wording as a rallying cry in their efforts to utterly secularize society and marginalize those daring to bring their faith into the political arena or public discourse.

What the First Amendment to the Constitution says, in fact, is that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Known as the "Establishment Clause," all it does is prohibit government from establishing an official state church.

Plymouth Colony's Pilgrims were English separatists motivated primarily by a desire for religious freedom. This spirit had only swelled by the time the Founding Fathers declared our independence from England in 1776, and their dissatisfaction resulting from their experiences as subjects of the English crown had a decided impact when they penned both the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

So the notion that displaying a nativity scene on public property is tantamount to the establishment of an official state religion is ludicrous. The same goes for prayer in school, the Ten Commandments displayed in a courthouse, or "In God We Trust" appearing on our currency. What if the majority of a community's residents want a nativity scene in front of the local courthouse? If that majority's desires are thwarted, would that not be a violation of the citizens' constitutionally guaranteed "free exercise" of their religious sensibilities? These days it seems that majority rule has been superseded by minority rule.

One case that could be heard by the Supreme Court is Skoros v. City of New York. Andrea Skoros, a Roman Catholic mother of two, complained that, pursuant to school policy, the schools her children attended were decorated for the holidays with stars and crescents, menorahs and Christmas trees.

Objecting to the lack of any depictions of the Christian nativity scene, which were prohibited by school policy, Skoros filed a complaint. She contended that the policy "impermissibly promoted and endorsed the religions of Judaism and Islam, conveyed the impermissible message of disapproval of Christianity, and coerced students to accept the Jewish and Islamic religions in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment." She asked the court to enjoin the school board from implementing its policy. The district court denied all relief, and Skoros appealed. The ACLU, of course, is lined up against Skoros.

"The ACLU war on Christmas is really a war on Christians," said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center. "With few exceptions...the ACLU avoids going after religious symbols of other faiths. Despite the fact over 80 percent of Americans are Christians, the ACLU has bullied elected representatives and school officials to eradicate the public celebration of Christmas under threat of lawsuits. Municipalities and schools should be aware that the systematic exclusion of Christmas symbols during the holiday season is not warranted, and such exclusion itself could be inconsistent with the Constitution."

Frank Shannon is a writer and longtime conservative activist. He can be contacted via e-mail at FXShannon@aol.com.

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