The self-styled War on Christmas is heating up, I see. Santa Monica was swamped with atheist displays last year. So the city government appears to have pulled the plug on anything. Fair’s fair for public property, I suppose. As long as everybody’s following the rules.
In my parishes, where there has been a tradition of outdoor decoration, we did it on church property. In one parish, people got tired of the work to set up the display. So it was retired.
Where there’s still energy for public displays of religion, I don’t see the problem with confining it to either one’s church’s property or to acts of charity and justice in the public sphere. “They’ll know we are Christians by our love,” I think, and not by the quality or placement of our decorations. William Becker, attorney for the churches:
The atheists won. It’s a shame about Christmas. Pontius Pilate was exactly the same kind of administrator.
Both sides return to court next Monday for final arguments. Let’s hope Mr Becker doesn’t bring a wash basin for the judge.
