Yes to Santa, but no to nativity scene

By GREGG DOBBS
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
I love Santa Claus.
I love children's' faces when they see him. I love artists' versions when they paint him. I love the presents he leaves when people believe in him. I just love it when Santa Claus is coming to town. Plus the trees, the lights, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer too.
But I don't necessarily love the nativity scene.
What's the difference? For better or worse, Santa and Rudolph and the colors of Christmas have become secular symbols of the holidays. Of course that troubles some Americans and I understand, but it's a fact: for both Christians and non-Christians, Christmas has come to mean a bright light during the darkest days of the year. And gifts and eggnog and gingerbread cookies.
But how many Americans -- how many Christian Americans -- even think on Christmas Day about the birth of Jesus? Lots, but not even close to all. It's kind of like asking, as we're wolfing down our turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving Day, how many Americans ever actually stop to think about being thankful?
For those who do celebrate Christmas as a sacred holiday, is there always a place to go? Of course there is. Church. Home. There is no limit on the number of places for pious Americans, save one: a government building. Likewise, there is no limit on where religious displays like nativity scenes are appropriate, save one: a government building.
Perhaps as critics charge, this takes the separation of church and state too far, but the issue a couple of weeks ago in Denver wasn't really about the First Amendment, it was about the Right Thing To Do. Denver's mayor wanted to replace a lighted sign on City Hall that says "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays." Discrimination laws notwithstanding, while Home Depot doesn't have to be perfectly inclusive, nor Macy's or Starbucks, government ought to be. Anyway, what's the harm? No matter what happens on government property, citizens have no shortage of places to go where the religious spirit of Christmas is alive and well.
Big stink
Predictably though, the mayor's decision in Denver created a big stink, and he had to be politically pragmatic and reverse himself. A radio talk show host had charged that the mayor was trying "to take Christianity out of public view." That's hogwash. It's in public view on half the street corners of America. And no one was trying to change that. This was about government. It was about places and events to which the entire public is invited, Christian and non-Christian alike. It was about including all Americans -- taxpaying Americans, I might add -- in any holiday celebration on public property.
For my part, I think the mayor would have made more sense if he had proposed to remove the manger scene from government grounds rather than the less religiously blatant "Merry Christmas" greeting, but his motive, either way, was noble: inclusion. Think of it this way: Anyone of any faith or no faith at all can merrily sing "Jingle Bells;" only Christians can find meaning in "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful." In a society of Christians, Moslems, Jews and others, the words "Merry Christmas" clearly are less inclusive than "Happy Holidays." Why? Because "Merry Christmas" leaves people out. "Happy Holidays" doesn't. Inclusion is not a dirty word. To the contrary, it fits the spirit of Christmas!
So let the herald angels sing ... just not at City Hall.
X Greg Dobbs was an Emmy Award-winning correspondent for ABC News. He now hosts a Rocky Mountain PBS discussion program and reports on global issues for the satellite television network HDNet.