People by now are well familiar with suits being filed against those who put nativity scenes on public property.
But did you know that someone was threatened to fines for putting a creche on their own private property?
It's true. A family in Novi, Michigan, was threatened with fines by the management company of their subdivision unless they removed the nativity scene from their own front lawn. (Although I gotta admit, looking at the set they chose, it isn't surprising management company objected. Hard to tell if this is religious persecution or simply a question of good taste.) But fortunately, a call to a lawyer and the "misunderstanding" was quickly rectified.
The referenced article has a few other good items. They discuss how many people are ignorant of the actual law and how schools often overreact and ban all sorts of stuff the courts don't demand that they ban.
An interesting organization has been founded by none other than Don Feder called
"Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation" to "combat the widespread prejudice against Christians by the cultural elites." This organization has spoken out against purging Christmas from the public square. Gotta love Don Feder for his help, and I don't want to seem ungrateful, and I am a big Don Feder fan, but I'm somewhat left scratching my head why he (as a Jew) would (and does) strive so hard to defend us. Of course, undoubtedly he's totally alienated the Jewish community at large by his conservative perspective. Perhaps he's just supporting the people who love him rather than those who hate him. The question in my mind, how many Jews think like him, or is he unique?
Actually, he is well within the Jewish tradition. At the core of Judaism is the commandment to stand against injustice in all its forms, even if you are not directly affected. There is also, unlike most religions, NOT a statement that Judaism is the only true faith and the only path to heaven. Since Judaism praises deeds above faith, the "righteous among the nations" also have a place in the world-to-come. So there is no fundamental religious argument against his actions.
However, that being said...I think he is being a bit naive. The "War on Christmas" issue has turned into an excuse to make war on Chanukkah because it isn't a majority holiday. That not only bugs the heck out of me, it scares me.
I think it's going to be an interesting Christmas with my family this year.
(My dad's family is Christian, and we always spend Christmas with my uncle and cousins. My uncle has never forgiven my mother for "tearing Rob away from Christ", nor my father for converting. There is almost always a full-blown argument between my uncle and my father, which in recent years has come to include some very ugly words directed at my mother and I. Between the first night of Chanukkah falling on Christmas this year, the deep-seated issues, and the whole "War on Christmas" deal, I wouldn't be surprised if it came to blows this year.)
Oh, and by the way, I think the "Happy Holidays" issue is just plain ridiculous. How exactly is that an assault on Christmas? Would the offended parties rather that the Wal-Mart greeters ask everyone's religion as they enter the store so that they can know what greeting is appropriate? Please.
The Happy Holidays thing is perceived as an assault on Christmas because the effect is to dilute the celebration until all anyone thinks about is some vague holiday season with Santa Claus, reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman, completely forgetting about what we believe the real meaning of the holiday is, the birth of Christ. It's an objection against the total secularization of the holiday. It also seems rather ridiculous to us to make this huge todo over a holiday no one even dares mention. It's like this elephant in the middle of the room no one talks about.
That being said, I was looking at some greeting cards at work HR had posted on their door, all of which of course said "Happy Holidays", and I recognized that there is a real issue here; you can't very well go and send someone Jewish a Christmas card. Maybe a better solution would be to say "Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah". (Nothing else counts since Kwaanza's not a religion and the season isn't remotely designed to celebrate anything Muslim.) That doesn't help you in the stores, though.
The whole thing feels like people are ungrateful -- without Christmas there would be no holiday season, and yet people are unwilling to acknowledge it.
So I have some questions about Hanukkah. How much of our holiday symbolism fits into Hanukkah? The impression from the outside is that while I acknowledge Hanukkah predates Christmas (and it's in our bible and not yours, ha ha!), Hanukkah has morphed unnaturally from an authentic Jewish celebration to a way to glom onto Christmas, like it got swept up in the culture and somewhat unwillingly became "the Jewish Christmas". I've been told that gift-giving was never really a part of Hanukkah. What else is a part of Hanukkah other than driedels (where did those come from, anyway?), menorahs, and celebrating a miraculous supply of oil?
By the way I've enjoyed your comments and have meant to reply to several of them, but haven't had the time. I may still go back and reply to some of them.