Christmas is the holiday set aside for honoring the birth of Jesus Christ. Not only has it become secularized and commercial, any expression of religious sentiment is often banned or attempted to be banned at Christmas.
A few examples of attacks on public expressions of faith, from my editorial on "Winning the War on Christmas" from December 2005:
A Wisconsin elementary school changed the Christmas carol "Silent Night" to a secularized version called "Cold in the Night"
Teachers in a Georgia elementary school were banned from wearing any sort of Christmas pin that had a religious connotation, and from using the word "Christmas"
An Oregon school prohibited a kindergartner from giving out Christmas cards which told of the religious origin of the candy cane last year
A Massachusetts school prohibited the same "candy cane" Christmas cards two years ago
An elementary school in Oklahoma would not allow any references to Christmas in its "holiday" play, but left references to Hanukkah and the manufactured 1960s black American holiday of Kwanzaa
A school in Massachusetts told second graders to bring a book to class that represented their Christmas traditions, but when one girl brought a religious-based book, she was told she couldn't share her book with the class
Teachers in Sacramento, California were told they could not use the word "Christmas" in oral or written communication
A school in Tacoma, Washington changed the word "Christmas" to "winter" in a Christmas carol to be sung at a Christmas concert
Denver also banned a group of Christians from having a float in the Christmas parade because they wanted to sing Christmas carols and have a banner that said "Merry Christmas"
One school district in Plano, Texas even went so far as to ban the colors red and green from holiday celebrations
The Wisconsin school mentioned above has agreed to bring back "Silent Night" after many calls and emails from the public, and a letter from the Liberty Counsel defending religious liberty
Two federally subsidized housing facilities in Winter Park, Florida and Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania have told residents they can't sing Christmas carols and they can't decorate their doors with religious symbols, but after Liberty Counsel action, they have relented
Citizens in Beaver Borough, Pennsylvania recently won the battle to set up a nativity scene on public property. The town had pulled the display after it had been up for several weeks, fearing they would run afoul of ACLU jackals.
Students at Auburn University in Alabama protested the renaming of the Christmas tree to "Holiday Tree" and got it changed back to a "Christmas Tree"
Wellington, Florida relented after public protests and will now allow a crèche to be included in a holiday display on public property
A school district in Wisconsin backed down from its policy of prohibiting children from handing out Christmas cards that included the religious origins of the candy cane
The mayor of Denver had planned to change a sign outside the Denver City Hall from "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays," but relented after a week of public pressure
None of these instances constitute "Congress [making a] law respecting an establishment of religion." Nor does it constitute a "theocracy."
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