Add this to the Leftists' list of grievances against Governor Scott Walker.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
First, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took on public sector unions.
Now he's reigniting the Christmas wars.
Walker said Monday that the evergreen decorated with ornaments and adorned with a star in the center of Wisconsin's Capitol Rotunda is a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree as it's been called for the past 25 years.
The roughly 30-foot-tall tree was called a Christmas tree from the first display in 1916 until 1985. That's when politicians bowed to concerns about government endorsing religion and started referring to it as a holiday tree.
The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has opposed the term Christmas tree, saying it offends nonreligious people and amounts to a government endorsement of Christianity.
The president of that group, Annie Laurie Gaylor, called Walker's decision rude and insensitive to non-Christians.
"The reason that it was turned into a holiday tree was to avoid this connotation that the governor chooses one religion over another," she said. "It's essentially a discourtesy by the governor to announce that. He intends that to be a slight and a snub to non-Christians, otherwise he would not do it."
Walker, in a news release, downplayed any potential controversy by simply referring to the decoration as a Christmas tree and not noting any change. His spokesman Cullen Werwie confirmed that the designation and change from past practices was intentional.
"It's a Christmas tree," Werwie said. "In all honesty, I don't know what more to say about it."
It's not even Thanksgiving and the war on Christmas is raging in Wisconsin.
Not again.
The audacity of Scott Walker to call a Christmas tree a Christmas tree!
Walker isn't "reigniting the Christmas wars," as the Associated Press claims. He's merely properly identifying a traditional decoration used to celebrate a religious holiday.
It's a Wonderful Life.
No.
If you're intolerant and refuse to permit others to express their faith, It's a Miserable Life.
With all due respect, Annie Laurie Gaylor must lead an achingly miserable life. I can't imagine my life's work being devoted to infringing on the rights of others, working to prevent people from freely exercising their religious beliefs.
Gaylor clearly is exploiting a symbol celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ to advance her agenda, establishing a society void of public displays of religious faith.
She says, "It's essentially a discourtesy by the governor to announce that. He intends that to be a slight and a snub to non-Christians, otherwise he would not do it."
Gaylor has no basis whatsoever for saying that Walker is calling a Christmas tree a Christmas tree just to be cruel to non-Christians. Her assertion, "otherwise he would not do it," is unfounded.
In effect, she's calling Walker a grinch, a mean-spirited person set on hurting others.
That's funny, since Gaylor is the one who has made a career out of being a grinch, leading an assault on the Constitution as she attacks Christians.
What's the big deal about calling a Christmas tree what it is? It's a CHRISTMAS tree. Walker isn't afraid to say it. Good for him. He's upholding the Bill of Rights.
It's sad that Christians have been forced to kowtow to those wishing to prohibit our right to exercise our religion.
I'm glad Walker isn't playing those games. "Holiday tree" is forced and awkward and unfair to Christians.
A Christmas tree in the Capitol rotunda by any other name is still a Christmas tree.
Acknowledging that the tree is, in fact, a Christmas tree doesn't mean that a state religion is being established.
No comments:
Post a Comment