I just got back from my 2nd-grade son’s “songfest.” What a mess we are in!

Tots in Santa Claus hats singing Hanukkah songs… Isn’t Hanukkah past and

gone already? A couple of years from now, no doubt they’ll have Ramadan

worked in there somehow. And of course there were no songs AT ALL referring

to the birth of Jesus Christ–this is a public school. We only got “Frosty

the Snowman,” “Silver Bells,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” Speaking

personally, as a Christian, I don’t want the commemoration of my Savior’s

birth mucked about with in this way. I’m starting to feel I’d like the

whole thing kept IN the precincts of my church and OUT of the public sphere.

In short, I am swinging round to the ACLU position. No offense to anyone,

but I don’t want my kids singing Hanukkah songs–that’s not their religion.

If I were Jewish, I wouldn’t want my kids wearing Santa hats, either. (NB:

“Santa” means “Saint”–i.e. in the Christian religion.) I can’t see why

Jews, Moslems, Buddhists and atheists should get a holiday to celebrate an

event they believe to be of no importance. Let’s repeal all laws making

religious festivals public holidays. If people want to take off for Good

Friday, Yom Kippur, Eid Al-fitr, Kali Puja, or the Wiccan Solstice, let them

make suitable arrangements with their employers, privately. Give Christmas

back to us Christians.