I was informed of a brilliant press release that captures my feelings about the ongoing debate about the appropriateness of celebrating Christmas publicly. Personally, I consider the argument that public schools or other government buildings noting religious holidays represents an illegal combination of church and state a waste of breath.
Celebrate Christmas, celebrate Ramadan, celebrate Passover, celebrate Nothingday, celebrate the autumnal equinox for all I care. Just don't hate other people because they're celebrating something you don't agree with. Are some people over the top? Yes. Should it be stopped? That depends on how egregious the practice is. Would I as a Catholic take offense at a huge menorah on the lawn of my town hall? Not at all. If a person who chooses not to worship any religion gets offended at the sight of a nativity scene in front of a public school, as far as I'm concerned that's their problem. Your choice to not worship shouldn't interfere with other people's choice to show their religious beliefs.
I'm not a Bible thumper. Most people I know consider me liberal; I consider myself politically moderate. But to me the decisions to stop playing Christmas music or recognize the significance of religious beliefs at this time of year, whether they be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, Pagan (if paganism is a religion), etc., is ridiculous. It takes away from what should be a special, pleasant time of year.
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There's another story today, dateline Bartow, Fla. (AP) that reported on the town council rejecting someone's placement of a Festivus display (which apparently was not a Festivus pole) on the public grounds to go along with the creche scene of the Nativity. Because no one claimed credit for the Seinfeld-inspired Festivus display, the town chose to take it down. It allowed the Zoroastrian display since a person claimed responsibility and filed a request to keep it on the public ground. ... That's fine with me. I agree that people who are interested in it should look into Zoroastrianism, which is still practiced in parts of Iran, I believe. If I recall correctly it might have been the first monotheistic religion.
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