EFFin’ Unsound

The people who control the media and so much commerce would like you to believe that it’s Christmas now. And that it’s somehow time to celebrate. No! Right now is a time of solemnity where we wait on Jesus to come back to Earth. And have candy for some reason that I’m not really clear on. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate all evangelical Protestants. Some of my best friends are evangelical Protestants. It’s just the ones that are trying to destroy Advent that are the problem.

The news has been hopping all over this, both locally and nationally, and the outrage has been huge. It is no surprise they reversed their decision and are reinstalling the trees. More on that in a moment.

The back story: A few months ago a Sea-Tac Employee asked for permission to add a Menorah to a Christmas tree display. He was initially granted permission, but after a second look it was denied. The Port of Seattle determined that adding a religious icon to the Christmas display, which was primarily intended to be secular would violate the law, as Sea-Tac is technically a government facility. The Employee consulted his Rabbi who engaged in a discussion with the Port of Seattle official.

Finally after getting nowhere, the Rabbi consulted an attorney who presented the POS the threat of a lawsuit, if they did not comply.

So rather then engage a legal debate, the POS pulled the trees, arguing that none was better then a lawsuit.

For more, look here:

Airport puts away holiday trees rather than risk being “exclusive”

As odd as it might seem, Sea-Tac Airport officials were hoping to avoid controversy when they had maintenance crews working Friday’s graveyard shift dismantle nine holiday trees festooned with red ribbons and bows.

The airport managers ordered the plastic trees removed and boxed up after a rabbi asked to have an 8-foot-tall menorah displayed next to the largest tree in the international arrival hall.

Port of Seattle staff felt adding the menorah would have required adding symbols for other religions and cultures in the Northwest, said Terri-Ann Betancourt, the airport’s spokeswoman. The holidays are the busiest season at the airport, she said, and staff didn’t have time to play cultural anthropologists.

“We decided to take the trees down because we didn’t want to be exclusive,” she said. “We’re trying to be thoughtful and respectful, and will review policies after the first of the year.”

The problem was they angered all the people who like Christmas, including atheists, Jews and Christians alike.

Michael Medved summed it up this way:

There’s an outrageous story out of Seattle (my home base) that shows the way that good intentions can occasionally produce disgusting results. Because of the prevailing climate of political correctness, a decent guy and honorable clergyman looks like a horse’s rear end and has provoked appropriate indignation from millions of people.

The story rapidly became one of good intentions, unintended consequences, overreactions and a lot of media hype. The Rabbi, Elazar Bogomilsky, never intended to imply the decorations had to come down, nor was a lawsuit their real intention. Their lawyer, I think, got a bit trigger happy in trying to make a point to the POS.

The POS was oversensitized to the litigious society of political correctness we live in, and frankly panicked, opting to avoid the issue altogether.

Ken Schram awarded them both Schrammies, 2 days before his normal award ceremony, such was his digust:

So, because of one rabid rabbi and an exclusive group of - pardon the redundancy - spineless public officials, Sea-Tac airport has officially outlawed Christmas.

The result is a “Double-Whammie Schrammie.”

Port Commission President Pat Davis gets the “Santa-Baby” bobble-head for her complete lack of common sense, her weak-kneed leadership and a cover her own butt mentality.

Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky gets the hasidically orthodox “Schrammie for his un-kosher attitude of disdain and arrogance, not to mention his chutzpah in acting surprised that the Christmas trees disappeared.

So, take a bow you two.

You’re quite the pair: One a “scrooge”, the other completely meshugeneh, and this special Monday “Schrammie” is for you.

I love that guy sometimes.

But he really got to the essential nature of the debate.

This has had unexpected consequences. It became an international sensation, with many people labeling it the next exhibit in the war on Christmas.

They are wrong though. Oh, not about the war on Christmas. Yes Virginia, there really is a war on Christmas, where a lot of groups try to not only sanitize the religion from the Christmas holiday, but even remove the sanitized secular aspects of it claiming they are too close to religious.

The POS had already attempted to make the display as secular as possible, and they were well within their rights to do so. Christmas is a Federal Holiday, celebrated by people of all faiths, in many countries, and not all of them do so out of obedience to dogma.

They do so because it is fun to give presents and for a few days pretend there is peace on earth.

As a Christian/Catholic hybrid, I suppose I should be offended by the secularization, but I am not. My childhood memories are filled with many a Christmas before I understood the significance of a nativity scene. I knew who Santa was long before I knew who Jesus was. Much like the Easter Bunny the holiday may have its roots in faith, but it is so much more an American cultural tradition.

Yes, there is a war on Christmas, but in this case that battle had already come and gone. The trees were decorated with simple ribbons and bows. No Angels, no stars, no crosses. These trees were intended to connect to the festive season, not to any faith specifically. And as they were the product of a government, this is as it should be.

But in this case, the Rabbi was trying to include a similarly secularized Menorah, not a traditional oil filled one, which may have been legal:

The U.S. Supreme Court had determined that menorahs, like Christmas trees, can be secular symbols if they are not part of a religious-themed display. Bogomilsky’s menorah — like those in other public places — is lit with bulbs, rather than oil, which requires a blessing before lighting.

Craig Watson, the port’s chief lawyer, said Bogomilsky’s menorah likely fits the Supreme Court’s definition of secular. But the Port did not want to set the precedent of allowing an outside group to erect a holiday display at the airport, he said, and staff was too busy with holiday traffic to deal with the complexities of doing it themselves.

The POS was being cautious:

“Everyone should have their spirit of the holiday. For many people the trees are the spirit of the holidays, and adding a menorah adds light to the season,” said Bogomilsky, who works at Chabad Lubavitch, a Jewish education foundation headquartered in the University District.

Instead, the Port dragged its feet for weeks and hired an outside attorney to research religious-freedom case law, said Harvey Grad, Bogomilsky’s attorney.

With groups like the ACLU jumping in peoples faces constantly, I cannot say I blame them for trying to be careful.

What didn’t help was the Rabbi tried to get a bit pushy.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 12th, 2006 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Carl. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.