Posted on 01/01/2007 11:58:25 AM PST by Coleus
Each holiday season, the debate over religious displays on public property seems to return with the chilly weather. For some, combinations of lighted trees, menorahs, snowmen and crèches at town halls across North Jersey are nothing more than expressions of holiday cheer. But for others, the issue of which, if any, symbol is appropriate in public displays is far more complicated. The debate cuts to the core of fundamental beliefs about the relationship between government and religion. In Fair Lawn -- where more than 40 percent of residents are Jewish -- the divisive issue of whether to place a menorah on the front lawn of Borough Hall has been popping up for more than three decades. For the first time in years, officials held a public forum this month allowing residents to express impassioned pleas for and against placing a menorah next to a lighted tree. On Tuesday, the mayor and Borough Council are planning to make a decision at a work session and public meeting.
Proponents point out that dozens of North Jersey towns display both a menorah and a crèche in annual holiday displays. A menorah is included in holiday displays at the Bergen County complex in Hackensack, the Passaic County administration building in Paterson, the State House in Trenton and the White House. Still, many towns wrestle with the argument that religious symbols violate the separation of church and state or exclude people of other faiths.
In the early 1990s, Wyckoff was one of a handful of New Jersey municipalities targeted by the American Civil Liberties Union for its display, which included a menorah, nativity scene, and Santa and his reindeer. A sign in the middle of the display making the township's intentions clear was enough to end the longtime dispute with the organization. "Let this festive display in times remind us that we are the keepers of the flame, of liberty, and our legacy of freedom," the sign reads. "Whatever your beliefs, enjoy the holidays." In 2002, Mahwah decided to include a menorah in its holiday display after a Jewish resident complained she felt excluded by a display consisting solely of a lighted evergreen tree. Some council members initially harbored reservations, arguing court rulings considered the township's holiday tree a secular display. This year, the township will hold both tree lighting and menorah lighting ceremonies.
Attorneys say that case law on the issue varies so much that many towns are unsure how to approach it. For the last few decades, the front lawn of Fair Lawn Borough Hall has consisted of a pine tree strewn with blue and white lights, which officials refer to as a "holiday tree." The term outrages some Jewish residents, who claim that the tree is clearly seen by most as a Christmas tree. Dr. Scott David Lippe, a physician and longtime borough resident, has been at the forefront of what some Jewish leaders have dubbed "the menorah campaign." For the last eight years, Lippe has written a formal letter to the council requesting a menorah, and each year, he has been rejected. The campaign, which gained the support of several of the borough's eight synagogues, was stepped up in recent years, with residents gathering signatures for petitions and holding protests in front of Borough Hall.
Last year, Lippe and Rabbi Levi Neubort of Anshei Lubavitch took out a huge advertisement on the side of a bus that stopped directly in front of Borough Hall. "Every year I drive past Town Hall, and it appears to be a Christmas wonderland, with lights and a tree, and I wonder why we can't also have a menorah," Lippe said. "Nobody can look at me with a straight face and tell me that's a holiday tree," he added, as many members of the audience cheered during the recent public forum.
As one of several religious leaders of the borough's sizable Jewish population, Neubort told council members at the forum that he feels excluded. "My tax dollars are paying for the Easter Bunny to ride around town," Neubort said. "The Jewish population makes up a large portion of this town, and if it would make people feel good, we should do it." Borough Attorney Michael Kates said that although there is confusion over which symbols are deemed religious or secular, court cases have been consistent. A menorah, a symbol of the miracle that accompanied the rededication of the ruined Jerusalem temple in 165 B.C., is considered a religious symbol, as is a crèche or nativity scene.
A Christmas tree, although of religious origin, has been treated by courts as a secular symbol.
In a widely cited 1989 case, the Supreme Court ruled that a menorah placed next to a secular holiday tree outside a Pittsburgh government building didn't violate separation of church and state laws. Taken together, the court viewed the tree and the menorah as symbols of cultural diversity and holiday spirit, not government endorsement of religion. In 1999, an appeals court ended a five-year battle between Jersey City and the ACLU when it ruled that the city could keep its crèche because it added secular symbols, including a plastic Frosty the Snowman and a Santa Claus.
"The [Fair Lawn] mayor and council basically have two options: to retain the Christmas tree and nothing more, as it has for several years, or to include the menorah and all other religious symbols related to the holiday season," Kates said. Though a large number of residents who packed the borough's community center for the public forum were in favor of a menorah, several people spoke out against it. "I feel that Hanukkah is a holiday that should be kept on a personal level," said Fair Lawn resident Carol Feingold.
"We should have as much separation of church and state as possible," she added. Joan Goldstein, a resident for more than 30 years, offered another solution. "The menorah is a Jewish symbol that I light in my home. I don't need to see one in Borough Hall," she said. "If we decide to do this, why don't we be civic minded and find another place to put a religious display, on private property."
Jewish Jews and religious Christians have no objection to public dispalys of each other's faiths. Its the athiests anti religious crowd thatsometimes pretends to be religious when it suits them politically that have an issue. I'd be willing to bet that Joan Goldstein is hardly even observant.
One thing that never gets mentioned about banning religious displays.Religious people are tax payers too and are therefore just as entitled to use public property as those who are not religious.Same can be said for taxing religious people or even institutions and using the money to pay for public school busses or funding those institutions in any way.If you people want a separation of church and state then it must be complete and total and without any funding from religious people or their institutions!
"We should have as much separation of church and state as possible," she added. Joan Goldstein, a resident for more than 30 years, offered another solution. "The menorah is a Jewish symbol that I light in my home. I don't need to see one in Borough Hall," she said. "If we decide to do this, why don't we be civic minded and find another place to put a religious display, on private property."
Excuse me, madam, but don't you deduct your mortgage interest and property taxes on your Federal tax return?
Aha, your so-called private property is in reality government-subsidised. If you really want as much separation of church and state as possible, that is definitely an issue.
Holiday displays don't divide us - liberals do.
Holiday displays are not what divides us. What divides us is when courts and ACLU and idiots take the offense of one retard and start banning the freedom of the many.
If one idiot is offended by a cross or a menora,or the flag or the word God ,that is no reason to ban such a thing from the masses. Its time that one person was told to go crap in their hat and get a friggin life.
The only people I know who have a problem with "holiday displays" are aethists and the jugheads down at the aCLU (I know, they're the same thing). It's time for Congress to get off it's collective @$$ and do one of their world famous "probes" of the aCLU and find out why they are conducting a Naziesque blitzkrieg against people of faith and depriving them of their rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The morons at the aCLU are always warning us that our "liberties" and "rights" are being taking away while they are in court having all of our First Amendment rights taken away from us.
Big issue in my town as well.
Some Jews complaining about the "winter festival tree", and demanded a menorah at town hall.
I wrote the editor of the local rag, that I have no problem with a menorah, or even a dull sword for the muzzies to gather around to chant their prayers, even a Festivus tree, to gather around to watch Seinfeld re-runs, as long as:
The "winter festival" events become Christmas events, and carols can be sung in our schools as well as any other seasonal music.
Just keep repeating, Diversity is our strengthn
Just keep repeating, Diversity is our strengthn
Go ahead and display a menorah. They always look dull compared to the beautiful Christmas decorations.
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