It’s as if these folks can’t have a jolly time without stirring a fight or two over governmental displays of Christian symbols.
The peddlers of a so-called “War On Christmas” have succeeded, at least in Green Bay, Wis., of injecting some strife into the season of goodwill.
Although there are plenty of places, such as homes, houses of worship and shopping malls, where Christmas decorations can be displayed, Religious Right activists and their allies always demand much more.
For example, Green Bay City Council President Chad Fradette has succeeded in rankling citizens from around the area after he and two maintenance city workers erected a nativity scene atop the northwest entrance to City Hall last week. His depiction of the birth of Jesus was approved by the city’s Advisory Committee and Mayor Jim Schmitt.
Fradette told local media that he knew full well that his in-your-face action was controversial, and he meant it to be. Fradette was peeved that a Madison-based group called the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) had asked city officials in Peshtigo to remove a nativity scene in city park.
After the vote, Fradette declared, “I’m trying to take this fight to the people who need to be fought. I’ll keep going on this until this group imposing Madison values crawls back into its hole and never crawls out.”
Fradette also warned that he would reach out to the Alliance Defense Fund and the Liberty Counsel for legal assistance in helping him defend the display. Those groups are renowned for carping about an-out-of-control secular America trying to yank Christianity from the public square.
It’s a tired argument made every year, and it inevitably injects unpleasantness into all kinds of communities. It’s as if these folks can’t have a jolly time without stirring a fight or two over governmental displays of Christian symbols.
FFRF’s Annie Laurie Gaylor responded to Fradette’s action with a letter urging city officials to remove the Christian display. She struck back at Fradette’s ridiculous claim about a First Amendment right to use government resources to promote religion.
“Does (Fradette) have one on his lawn?” Gaylor asked the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “Most churches don’t even have them up. Why not? It’s depicting a miracle believed by Christians. It’s not something we the public have to believe, and many of us don’t….”
Schmitt, in an apparent attempt to tamp down the growing complaints over Fradette’s tableau, announced that other groups could erect holiday displays on city hall.
So Circle Sanctuary, a prominent Wiccan congregation in Madison, responded to Schmitt’s invitation by sending a Yule wreath with a pentacle in the middle. The pentacle, a five-pointed star in a circle, is a symbol the Wiccan faith.
Although the Rev. Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary is not a proponent of plastering government buildings with religious symbols, she said in a press release that if Green Bay was going to promote one religious symbol, it should open its space to others.
“If there are to be religious displays on public property, then let all the richness of American religious life be fairly represented,” she said.
Unfortunately, in a nation where too many equate democracy with majoritarian rule, those who call for politicians to deck government halls with religious symbols typically mean only Christian ones.
The Wiccan symbol, after being erected for a short time atop Green Bay City Hall, was vandalized by someone. A man climbed up a ladder and wrenched the wreath from its space and threw it behind some shrubs, slightly damaging it. The Green Bay Press-Gazette reported that a citizen summoned the police upon seeing the suspect on the ladder. The suspect fled the scene before police arrived.
It appears that Fradette’s obnoxious promotion of his favored religion has succeeded – in bringing divisiveness to a season that many, regardless of their religious leanings, hope will be filled with peace and rest.
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