The War on Christmas: The Chicago Front

Cross-posted on Marathon Pundit.

On December 17, Chicago attorney Andy Norman wrote the op-ed, Misunderstanding Constitution leads to censorship at school, decrying the secularists' attack on Christmas.

An excerpt:

Historically, students and teachers across America have celebrated the Christmas season by decorating classroom bulletin boards and Christmas trees, learning songs for the annual Christmas program and exchanging Christmas cards and gifts with classmates.

Yet, in recent years, misconceptions have arisen about the legalities of Christmas celebrations in public schools. As a result, many school officials have removed nearly all references to this historic day, including references to Jesus and the history of Christmas, and have begun new "traditions" that violate the Constitutional rights of students and teachers by prohibiting seasonal religious expression.

Daniel Elbaum of the Anti-Defamation League, disagreed, as he explained in his retort to Norman on December 22.

Here's an excerpt from his letter to the Sun-Times. (Note, this letter is no longer available as a free link on the Times' site.)

In ''Misunderstanding Constitution leads to censorship at school'' [Commentary, Dec. 17], Andy Norman overgeneralizes an important area of constitutional law and denigrates efforts to make our schools inclusive to students of all faiths and backgrounds. Norman writes that public school officials are not required to ''obliterate religious observance and expression.'' True, but the Supreme Court has made very clear that schools must not cross ''the laudable educational goal of promoting a student's knowledge of an appreciation for this nation's cultural and religious diversity, and the impermissible endorsement of religion.''

In a Marathon Pundit exclusive, below is Andy Norman's response to the ADL letter:

Dear Mr. Elbaum,

I enjoyed reading your letter in the Sun-Times yesterday, which responded to my op-ed piece. You have a legitimate perspective and I agree with most of what you wrote. However, I'd like to correct two misimpressions. First, I am not simply dealing with isolated examples of political correctness run amok. There is a concerted attack in our country to drive the free exercise of religion completely out of the public square and even some private settings, which is highly offensive to many of us who were raised in the Judeo-Christian tradition. In the (false) name of separation of church and state our religious liberties are being eradicated. This is a critical issue because our country has always embraced and accommodated religion. Moreover, there is no better time to raise this than now, at the time of Christmas and Chanukah, when people are listening.

Second, I disagree with your "heckler's veto" implication for the same reason you accuse me of citing isolated examples of political correctness. Jewish children adjust easily to the concept that they are a minority and we should not fear such minor offenses. I am Jewish and grew up in East Rogers Park, a mixed neighborhood, in the 1960's. Yes, I was uncomfortable because I did not know the words to the Christmas carols we sang and did not celebrate Christmas. But it never occurred to me or any of my Jewish friends to complain, or try to stop the Christian celebrations. I knew then as I know now that we live in a Gentile culture and they are entitled to commemorate their faith; indeed God chose us for His people because we were small and nondescript, and knew that we would be minorities in the Diaspora. Deut. 7:7. It is my belief that the "heckler's veto" approach taken by the ADL over-emphasizes the Establishment Clause to the point of endangering Free Exercise Clause freedoms. This is a dangerous imbalance which we will continue to fight against.

Chanukah Sameach v' Baruch HaShem.


Andy Norman

There is a book by Fox News' John Gibson--I read the first 50 pages of my niece's copy last night--about similar scenarios, and it's called The War on Christmas.