Gans letter: Holiday vs Christmas

I have wondered for years, why schools, cities and states call events centering around Christmas “Holiday choruses/orchestral performances/parades” and “Hymns of the Season.” Our children went through the public school system in Boise. Most years we had discussions with a principal, classroom teacher and/or orchestra director concerning their “all inclusive holiday message” or what it really was: a Christmas event. My children colored Santas, reindeer, Christmas trees. They sang Christmas carols and played Christmas hymns. Occasionally they sang or played “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel.” My point is: call it what it is, a Christmas performance. Santa taking up the rear of a parade is not an example of “all-inclusive.” A program with 15 Christmas hymns is a Christmas performance. It’s also infuriating when you talk to them and you receive a blank stare, like you’re talking another language. Here’s a thought: take it out of the public schools, take it out of the state/federal government-funded institutions. Let’s truly have a separation of church and state. It scares me when I hear “we are a Christian nation.” The U.S. is so much more than that. What is really scary is that the president-elect’s staff selections include people who openly despise those unlike themselves.

This story was originally published December 12, 2016 at 11:15 AM with the headline "Gans letter: Holiday vs Christmas."