Making Room for Christ at Christmas December 2005During the Christmas season, we as Christians hope to focus on the coming of Christ. We can do this individually by preparing a place for Jesus Christ in our hearts, and we can do this within our communities by sharing the gift of Christ's love with others in our lives. At the same time, as Christians we need to be aware that during the Christmas season, and throughout the year, there are also groups that are attempting to remove references to Christ from our public culture: from our schools, from our town squares and from the celebrations carried on around the Christmas holiday. Let's look at these efforts to remove Christ from the public celebration of Christmas and discuss how we should respond--with a spirit of charity, and with the goal of being effective. History of Religion and Government To understand the current debates on the public role of Christ in Christmas it is important to look briefly at the history of the relationship between religion and government in our nation. The framers of our Constitution wanted to both protect the freedom of individuals to practice the religion of their choice, and to prohibit the government from establishing a state religion. The 1st Amendment to the Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". Since our nation's founding, various groups and the courts have debated the meaning of government not establishing a religion, while also maintaining the free exercise of religion. Our courts have come to an agreement that the "Establishment Clause" isn't violated when government pays for sick patients to receive care in religious hospitals, and pays for students to receive an education in religious schools. The courts' rulings often focus on whether individuals are forced through government action to participate in a religious endeavor, reasoning that if individuals are not forced or compelled, then the Establishment Clause is not violated. Christmas and the Establishment Clause Some believe the Establishment Clause is violated when Christ is mentioned or depicted in Christmas celebrations within public schools and on public property. Over the years, groups have challenged the actions of cities and states in presenting Nativity scenes on public property, and having Christmas carols sung within public schools. Since the 1980s, various Supreme Court rulings have in general outlined that religious symbols and songs within public schools and on government property do not violate the Establishment Clause if they are presented as part of our cultural heritage, where the religious display or reference is one of several religious choices and / or non-religious references, reflecting the diversity of our nation (see references for Supreme Court ruling in the Resources section). A Nativity scene by itself, though, in a town square would likely be ruled by the courts as violating the Establishment Clause for promoting one religious belief and promoting religion in general. However, exhibits containing a Nativity scene along with other faith communities' symbols and non-religious holiday symbols have been ruled as acceptable and not violating the Establishment Clause. Looking at a recent example in a school setting in Salt Lake City, Utah students at West High School began to prepare for their annual Christmas concert tour. The group sang both non-religious and religious songs. One student named Rachel then decided that it was unfair to her that she be forced to sing songs that celebrated the birth of Christ. So she decided to sue the teacher who led the choir, the school, and the state of Utah. Rachel and the organizations that supported her, argued that since she didn't believe in Christmas, singing songs about it restricted her religious freedom. An advocacy group and legal foundation, The Becket Fund , came to assist the teacher and the school in defending the right of the teacher and students to sing Christmas songs in their concert. The Becket Fund wanted to defend the principle "that religion is a valid part of our culture and our heritage, and that the Constitution does not require us to pretend that it isn't." The Becket Fund agreed with the majority of parents that it was a case of defending public school students from anti-religious censorship. It argued that such censorship was against true freedom of religion . The Becket Fund and West High School also argued that Rachel was not forced to join the choir. Religious freedom meant that the students, who chose to sing, should be able to sing Christmas songs at Christmastime. Furthermore, the Becket Fund argued, there were a mixture of Christian Christmas songs and other secular, holiday melodies included in the concert. The 10th Circuit Court ruled that the school was allowed to have a Christmas concert and include Christmas songs that mentioned Christ. The court pointed out that Rachel "had a choice whether or not to sing songs she believed infringed upon her exercise of religious freedom." In this way, the free expression of religion of the other students and the teacher at West High school was protected. Rising to the Challenge of Secularism It's important for us as Christians to respect the rights of others to follow different faiths than ours, or not follow any religion at all. But, it is also important that we defend our own rights to practice our faith and to not allow some groups to eliminate religion and Christianity from our public life. This endeavor to remove religion from our public life is a form of secularism. As we have seen, a certain amount of separation between the government and religion is right, such as the government not establishing one religion as our country's "official religion". However, intolerant secularism , which seeks to eliminate any references, celebration or acknowledgement of religion in public life carries great risks. Our nation's founding fathers often spoke and wrote about how religion, which did not impose itself on others, was a great advantage for our new nation in helping our citizens to develop the virtues necessary for democracy to succeed. Virtues such as respect for others, tolerance for others' views, willingness to sacrifice for a larger good, charity toward others, are all effectively taught through the Christian faith and other religions. If we were to eliminate religion from public life, then we would send to our children and citizens the incorrect message that religion is more of a personal matter that has little impact on the public good. Over time, this cultural demeaning of the value of religion would harm us as individuals and harm our nation. Current Challenges This Christmas season new challenges have arisen. Initially, the Christmas tree in front of the U.S. Congress was renamed a "holiday tree". Fortunately, the Speaker of the House, Denny Hastert, led a successful effort to change the name back to the Christmas tree. This type of secularism that tries to publicly rename a faith community's symbols shows a lack of respect for the culture and tradition of others. In some communities and schools, officials are afraid of a legal challenge if they present anything religious in school activities, or present religious symbols on public property. In these instances, we need to effectively state the truth that religion is a part of our heritage that should be celebrated, and to remind our communities of the great benefits that religion offers to us as individuals and to our nation. Joyfully Live the Reason for the Season In addition to raising others' awareness of taking Christ out of Christmas, we can also look within ourselves to deepen our own observance of Christmas. Simple things like making a point of earnestly wishing others a "Merry Christmas" instead of "happy holidays" can go a long way in moving us as individuals, and our culture at large back to Christ. Focusing on the religious Christmas traditions such as prayers by the Nativity set or Advent wreath at home, instead of shopping for example, will also help us center our hearts and minds back on Christ. Finally, ramping up our acts of charity can help us to grow in love and generosity during Advent and the Christmas season. The forces of secularism will likely always be with us tempting us to take God and religion out of our public life. Our challenge is to maintain our vigilance, identify when these challenges arise, and be effective in countering them. Sometimes we need to mobilize our talents and resources in defending our rights in the courts. More often, we need to make our views known within our local communities and schools that it is important to keep God and religion in our public life, for our own good and the good of our nation. And always, we need to strive to more completely and courageously live out the love of Christ, which will bring the most hearts and minds to Him and keep the focus on Christ in this Christmas season and throughout the year.
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