I was pleasantly surprised to see challenges to the old
Christmas display issue.
Historically, Christmas displays put up in “public” areas
consisted of Nativity scenes consisting of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in a
manger with or without animals, shepherds and sometimes magi bearing gifts.
Such a Christian display does not pass constitutional muster
and is in violation of the “separation of church and state” requirement that
government cannot promote a specific religion BUT it can display it in a “public”
area IF it opens up that area to all religions. In this way the government body
is not seen as supporting a specific religion.
Historically, only a Nativity display was allowed but now,
with many Americans either non-religious or even anti-religious, that practice
has been challenged and especially in 2014.
In Lansing, Michigan (capital) a group calling itself THE
SATANIC TEMPLE OF DETROIT put up a Christmas display featuring a Satanic Cross
with a snake and a book with the words “The Greatest Gift is Knowledge” which
to me means that knowledge defeats superstition which is what many
non-religious people consider religious beliefs to be.
The group claims they do not worship Satan so I wonder why
the term Satan in their temple name. I will have to delve a little deeper into
the beliefs of this group so I can understand what they actually stand for and
believe in.
Anyway, the Christians are up in arms saying that these “others”
defile the meaning of Christmas (Don’t take Christ out of Christmas) and in
essence saying that the United States is a Christian nation and so should
behave as such.
To me this is starting to sound a little like what radical
Islamists stand for; only their religion is valid on earth.
I am pretty sure these “others” are not promoting their
belief system as such but actually taking a stand against Christianity specifically
when it is being promoted by a governmental agency.
I feel they are doing this to say that during the Christmas
holidays there should be NO RELIGIOUS DISPLAYS on “public” lands period, so as
long as government entities put up Christian displays, they will counter with
their opposing displays.
I have to agree that religious displays should not be
displayed on public land and should be left to private citizens to display
whatever they want to on their own private land. I just cannot understand what possesses
government officials to try to cram their Christian message down the throats of
people that don’t want that message crammed down their throats.
This will take some doing and many challenges until government
officials realize that they need to obey the Constitution they take an oath to
protect even if they don’t agree with everything in that constitution.
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