Christ Removed

	In the 1960's there was a slogan "Keep Christ in Christmas". The billboard received media coverage. Today this slogan seems almost quaint. Around the same time, the Charlie Brown T. V. special was about putting aside the flashing lights and commercialism and remembering the nativity. We still hear complaints about commercialism in December, but today there's a certainty we won't see or hear references to Christ unless it's under the auspices of a church or private home.
We wouldn't see a newly produced TV program with the Charlie Brown message unless it was on the Christian cable channel. Twenty years later, the constitutionality of a publicly financed nativity scene in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in the early 1980's was challenged because, as a religious symbol, it was believed to violate non-Christian's rights. It was allowed to remain because it was proved to be part of a larger series of displays and decorations which attracted shoppers and helped the economic well-being of the community.
The 1st Amendment protects us from government-imposed religion. It also protects us from government-imposed secularism. The practice of our religions need not be confined to the privacy of our homes. There is no blanket law prohibiting religious symbols from being displayed on government property. Property can be rented for very little, or religious displays neutralized or broadened in scope in various ways which changes their standing.
It's just a matter of researching the details of the law, determining what is a religious symbol (Christmas trees and Santa aren't), who's paying for it, etc. I was surprised to learn there is more flexibility and feasibility here than we are lead to believe. In case of disputes there are even private organizations set up with lawyers specifically to help people who feel their freedom of religious expression rights are being violated. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is one of these groups.
It's not easy to say which side is the aggressor in these cases. If religious Christmas displays and pageants have been a tradition and there's a push to stop them, it appears to be a push from the left. If they haven't been done and someone's suing to add them, the aggressors appear to be from the right.There are pockets in the country where public displays of religion are pushed, but it's hard to imagine they could be commonplace anywhere anymore. The overwhelming concern is for not causing controversy around the theme. But it's expanded far beyond questions of government involvement to include exclusion of all public mention or show of religion, all on a voluntary basis to make sure nobody will be offended. A recent example of this would be the "Xmas muzak" heard last year in Macys' "Holiday Lane", a part of the store where they were selling Christmas merchandise.Listening very closely and in the background, I heard vocal versions of non-devotional pop-tunes (the ones that don't mention Christmas by name). The carols and other songs that do contain "the C word" were instrumental-only renditions without lyrics.

Macys was taking extreme care to screen every song to make sure nothing specific to Christmas or remotely devotional could even barely be heard by shoppers. There is also today a CD with a secular version of "O Holy Night" with the familiar melody but with lyrics purged of the magic and spirituality of the original, so it's no longer a Christmas song. Instead of "Hear the angles singing" we get "Hear the people singing". A very striking example of this deconstruction (of removing what might be construed as religious references from public view, and removing Christ from Christmas) is the case of "Christmas in April".This is a national organization providing free home repair for low-income seniors. It was not associated with church. After over 30 years they have recently decided to change their name to "Rebuilding Together". The representative to whom I spoke admitted the original name had considerable cachet. The change was made because they want to sound "non-sectarian", a word they now use to describe themselves.