My opinion Paul Greenberg : Holy spectacle! It's that time of year …
Source: Arizona Daily Star ()
My opinion Paul Greenberg
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.24.2007
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Ah,, tradition! What would we do without it? It just wouldn’t be the season without a squabble over religious displays on public property. By now it’s as much a part of Christmas as holly and mistletoe, if not nearly so nice.
Forget that business about the still small voice. Religion in this blessed land, at least when it become entangled with law, inspires not silent devotion but loud contention. So it was only a matter of time before somebody objected to the nativity scene on the grounds of the state Capitol here in Little Rock, Ark.
This time the objection came from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, bless its heart. It’s headquartered in Madison, Wis., which is the capital not only of that lovely if chilly state but of liberal — excuse me, progressive — thought in cool climes.
This lawyer letter from Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of aforesaid foundation, came complete with the usual season’s greeting in these confrontations, to wit, a not very veiled threat. If the State of Arkansas doesn’t respond to her demand that it take Christ out of its official Christmas, or at least evict the Holy Family from the Capitol grounds, she said her group "would have to take further action…."
The message was clear: Mary, Joseph, the baby, even the donkey and the wise men bearing gifts, plus a shepherd, a couple of sheep and the inevitable camel … they all must go. After all these years, indeed centuries, there’s still no room for them at the inn, at least if the Freedom From Religion Foundation has its cold-hearted way.
The nativity scene, says the foundation, "sends an unlawful message of endorsement of Christianity." Such language is par for the ill-tempered course. Why must protesters in this all-too-familiar Christmas pageant pronounce upon the law as if they were judges? Couldn’t …