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Originally Posted by Neapolitan
But no one in local office, and nowhere in the local ordinance that says you must be a Christian or believe in Christianity. So in my opinion the separation of Church and State is respected. I don't see how the nativity is violating the separation of Church and State, because there is no compulsion to be a Christian just by looking at it or walking by etc.
The days of the week are named after the Sun, the Moon, Tiu (Týr), Woden, Thor, Freya, and Saturn. Does the government give up the use of the days of the week because by using them it's an "endorsement" of those gods?
Thanksgiving, some say is based on the Jewish harvest feast, others say it's based on pagan harvest feast. I don't see it as an endorsement of either Judaism or paganism since it's a government holiday.
I think that some traditions (Christmas, Thanksgiving, days of the week) that somehow enter into public conscientiousness are not threatening to the separation of church and state. They are just traditions and no one in government is compelling one to believe in a specific religion, doctrine, creed etc.
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Your comment about the days of the week is a non sequitur since the days of the week are actually named after the planets, the moon, and the sun, with only a very tangential relation to ancient religious characters who have zero impact on American politics. Likewise, Thanksgiving is based on an actual event which occurred Plymouth, MA in the 1600s. I'm not really sure how you can say that a city hall hosting an explicitly religious display every year isn't an endorsement of that religion and I have to say I somehow doubt you'd feel that way if it were a Satanic display rather than a Christian one.
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Originally Posted by DeadChannel
I think it probably is technically a violation of secularism for the same reason that crosses being hung in govt. buildings and schools would be, but imo it's one of those pick your battles scenarios. Bigger fish to fry, actual problems that need to be addressed. Plus, I really want fox news to shut the **** up about the War on Christmas.
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I hear what you're saying and I agree it isn't the biggest fish to fry and may not be a battle worth fighting (in fact, I said that in a previous post). However, there is the whole "give them an inch, they'll take a mile" thing, which unfortunately has happened again and again in the US. For example, Christians successfully campaigned in the 1950s to have the phrase "under God" injected into the existing pledge of allegiance, something that seems a bit out of place for a country that's supposed to be secular, and it's remained there because people have had bigger fish to fry. Now, guess what, it's become something that Christian theocrat types use to point to as evidence of their claim that this is Christian country and that they should be allowed to push their religion even further into the government.
As far as Fox News and their viewers go, there's no chance they'll ever shut up. They want to be victims so badly that I'm sure they'd still be crying persecution even if they spent all twelve days of Christmas personally shoving figurines of the baby Jesus up the asses of every non-Christian in America.