Columnist: How the left stole Christmas

From a new column by Lowman S. Henry on the far left's annual assault on the Christmas holiday:

The constitution does not erect a wall of separation between church and state. It does prohibit the "establishment of religion." That clause was born of the framers desire not to have a government sanctioned church such as existed in the mother country, England, from whom they had just won independence.

Further, the constitution does guarantee the "free exercise" of religion. Here is where those seeking to remove Christ from the celebration of Christmas trample the rights of Christian believers. And, while the constitution does prohibit the establishment of a state religion, it does not guarantee anybody the right to be insulated from those engaged in the free exercise of their religious rights.

In a nation where Christians are constantly exhorted to be tolerant of other faiths, with the emphasis most recently on Islam, stifling the celebration of the Christian religion has become acceptable, even encouraged in many quarters. Thus we are subjected to such actions as renaming Christmas trees holiday trees. The fact is a Christmas tree is no more a holiday tree than a Menorah is a holiday candelabra. It has a religious connotation, and in the case of this symbol, a somewhat secularized one. To deny the display of the tree is to deny a constitutional right.

How the left stole Christmas - pottsmerc.com