2008 Woodie Awards
Religious expression
Joe Beninati
Issue date: 11/29/07 Section: Op/Ed
As the holiday season draws near, towns and houses undergo the biggest transformation of the year.
Bright lights, menorahs and Christmas tress adorn most windows throughout any town. The freedom of religion and expression shows itself like no other during the holiday season. Recently though, this concept has been challenged. People have been claiming that displaying a Christmas tree or menorah in the center of a town is hurtful and an attack on a person's faith.
Because of this, Christmas trees cannot be called Christmas trees, menorah's cannot be displayed in windows and no town can display any religious item in the center. The result: the cheer and excitement of such a great time of the year becomes disappearing. People have lost sight of what the holidays stand for. Holidays are not about competing with other religious beliefs and it is not right to take away all religious expression from the holiday season. Holidays are about spreading tolerance and joy.
Recently, in towns across New Jersey, the religious expression of the holiday season has been stripped away. Catholics accuse Jewish families of attacking their beliefs by displaying menorahs and Jewish families accuse Catholics of attacking their faith by displaying Christmas decorations.
The result is a list of rules and laws that require families not to display religious items in their windows, and the center of town cannot have any religious items displayed. This is simply ridiculous.
This is going against not only constitutional rights, but logic. The holiday season is all about sharing cultural experiences, and now that is gone. We need not lose sight of our own individual cultures and religions, rather than feeling threatened by others different beliefs and displays, we should embrace these differences as they only add to the joy and color of the holiday season.
These ignorant ideas and rules only add to the problem rather than help it. As Ben Stein said: "It doesn't bother me but when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this time of year." This is the attitude we need to push past ignorance and make the world a much more tolerant place.
Bright lights, menorahs and Christmas tress adorn most windows throughout any town. The freedom of religion and expression shows itself like no other during the holiday season. Recently though, this concept has been challenged. People have been claiming that displaying a Christmas tree or menorah in the center of a town is hurtful and an attack on a person's faith.
Because of this, Christmas trees cannot be called Christmas trees, menorah's cannot be displayed in windows and no town can display any religious item in the center. The result: the cheer and excitement of such a great time of the year becomes disappearing. People have lost sight of what the holidays stand for. Holidays are not about competing with other religious beliefs and it is not right to take away all religious expression from the holiday season. Holidays are about spreading tolerance and joy.
Recently, in towns across New Jersey, the religious expression of the holiday season has been stripped away. Catholics accuse Jewish families of attacking their beliefs by displaying menorahs and Jewish families accuse Catholics of attacking their faith by displaying Christmas decorations.
The result is a list of rules and laws that require families not to display religious items in their windows, and the center of town cannot have any religious items displayed. This is simply ridiculous.
This is going against not only constitutional rights, but logic. The holiday season is all about sharing cultural experiences, and now that is gone. We need not lose sight of our own individual cultures and religions, rather than feeling threatened by others different beliefs and displays, we should embrace these differences as they only add to the joy and color of the holiday season.
These ignorant ideas and rules only add to the problem rather than help it. As Ben Stein said: "It doesn't bother me but when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this time of year." This is the attitude we need to push past ignorance and make the world a much more tolerant place.