You can’t say “Christmas” anymore in public, unless you want to appear a rebel. Certainly not if you are in public service. Children are punished for bringing religious symbols into schools, such as Christmas trees and candy canes. All in the name of separation of Church and State.
This whole idea is become one of my pet peeves. The concept of the separation of Church and State does not appear anywhere in the founding documents of our nation. That’s right, every time you hear someone say that the Constitution provides for the separation of Church and State, they are at best mistaken, and at worst lying. This is an example of progressive selective constitutionality.
I remember being disturbed by the apparent insanity of these claims when I was a child. As a kid in junior high school, I sang in the boys choir and truly enjoyed the experience. Early in the Fall we would begin learning the songs that we would perform for the Christmas concert. I think my first year with the choir they changed the name to “holiday” concert due to some complaints. That one felt a bit silly, but I could understand (even at that age) that the word holiday was more inclusive for other religions. I had friends that were Jewish and I knew this change would make it easier to describe a concert that would include songs for Hanukah as well as for Christmas. Our director was always careful to include songs from various cultures and faiths.
Toward the end of my time in junior high, Christmas songs were being removed from the “Winter” concert altogether. In high school, if we wanted a Christmas song it had to be completely secular and even then it could be pulled from the program at the last minute at the slightest complaint. What a way to express the proper holiday spirit.
Whenever I heard someone complain about the people requiring us to pull these faith-based songs from our repertoire, the answer was always that there must be a separation of Church and State. Now we even have commentators on “public” radio apologizing for using the word “Christmas” in describing a party.
This is wrong. This is ridiculous. This is dangerous.
The phrase “separation of Church and State” does not appear anywhere in the Declaration of Independence or in the Constitution. This idea did not come from the foundation of American law. Most people agree that the original mention of this was made by Thomas Jefferson in a private essay, but they also agree that his intent paralleled the First Amendment in preventing the federal government from founding a state religion. This was all he meant by the separation of Church and State.
So keep this in mind the next time you hear someone ordering a student to remove a sweater that has a Christmas tree on the front, or people singing a Christmas carol near a government office being told to be quiet and disperse. Separation of Church and State is merely a tool to gain greater control and power by diminishing the stature of faith in our nation.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza
I hope you have a wonderful holiday whatever your chosen path to divinity.