Battle Over Public Christmas Displays Begins Again

And so it starts. Cities are again battling over whether to allow religious Christmas displays in public squares during the "winter holidays."

Freedom from religion groups start lawsuits over Christmas, disagreements by school boards occur over whether children can sing songs about Christ in holiday programs. It happens every year.

Other religious winter holidays, such as the Jewish Hanukkah, aren't mentioned herein because of one simple reason: there are no organized lawsuits or challenges against them taking place. I'm not intending to show favoritism toward Christianity.

That said, government officials in two states so far have taken action to inform and assure their citizens that religious holiday observances, programs and music can still be displayed in public places. They don't violate the U.S. Constitution.

The city of Maryville, Tenn., has announced it will restore the story about the birth of Jesus, as told in the Bible's book of Luke, into the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Last year, for the first time in 22 years, the story was omitted because the city's legal counsel advised that public reading of any portion of the Bible was a violation of the Constitution.

After citizen concern, further research and legal opinions, the reading of the story will take place once again this year.

In Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli took early steps in August by issuing a letter answering questions from the state's House of Delegates. They inquired whether upcoming public Christmas celebrations planned for Loudoun County would violate either the U.S. or Virginia Constitution.

Cuccinelli's decision included the following:

* According to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 2.2-505 of the Code of Virginia, a [local] governmental entity is never compelled to prohibit holiday displays, including religious symbols.

* Governmental bodies can exercise discretion in accommodating the religious expression of citizens for their seasonal holidays.

* These governments themselves can choose to participate in recognizing holidays as long as the various symbols of many religions as well as secular symbols are included.

(Cuccinelli's letter can be seen in .pdf format at this Liberty Counsel page by clicking on the highlighted words "opinion issued".)

But Cuccinelli didn't stop there. He concluded by saying the modern-day U.S. Supreme Court's jurisprudence leading to interpretations of the Establishment Clause are confused.

Anti-Christmas activists will often point out that, historically, the celebration of Christ's birth was originally added to other pagan rituals already taking place at that time of year; and that Jesus wasn't born in December. Indeed, if the Three Wise Men actually existed and followed a star to Bethlehem, some theologians and astronomers figure that Jesus' birth would have had to take place in September or October.

It doesn't matter. If Christians wish to celebrate Jesus' birth on Dec. 25, there is nothing according to the Constitution that says they can't do it in public. In fact -- if anything -- the First Amendment says the government can't prohibit it.

Liberty Counsel is a Christian legal organization that now runs a "Friend or Foe of Christmas" campaign because there have been so many lawsuits against the public acknowledgment of Christ in the holiday. Its press release about the Virginia decision states, "Refusing to acknowledge Christmas while honoring every other conceivable holiday may well violate the Constitution."

We're leaving someone out of the game by celebrating the "Holiday season" but not allowing people to freely acknowledge Christmas as being about Christ.