by Sharon Yeates

Created on: October 29, 2009   Last Updated: March 26, 2010

The first amendment of the Constitution is often used to support the view that religion should be hidden.  In fact, this amendment defends the rights of individuals to openly, and without shame, honor their various faiths.  The exact wording of the amendment is, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." They reflect the ideals of the very first Europeans on the North American continent. The ideal that every human being should be free to worship openly, without fear of persecution, without shame, regardless of what their religion might be. To ban the public celebration of Christmas would go beyond censorship of one group. It would rip away one of the fundamental rights of all Americans, regardless of their religion, to worship without shame or fear. It would rip away the freedom of speech. It would tear at the heart behind the freedom of the press.

Public celebrations of Christmas do not endorse Christianity on a national level any more than the public speeches of a political candidate at a public rally endorses that candidate's views on a national level. People have the ability to walk past the political candidates, to stand and debate them, or to join them. These same people also have the ability to walk past Christmas trees and nativity scenes, to stand and jeer, or to join in the celebration of Christmas. However, governmental censorship of a public religious celebration would send a message of wrongness about that religion, it would set a tone of prohibition of the ideals of that religious organization. You cannot rip away the public celebration of Christmas from Christians without shaking the very foundations of freedom of speech for all of the nation.

The most common argument against the public celebration of Christmas is that Christians would not want to see other religious groups celebrate their faith openly. The issue, however, is not what individuals want to see, but rather what individual freedoms we are willing to allow others, in order to maintain our own freedoms. The average Christian may not want to stand and watch the public celebration of a religion other than Christianity, but they will not, in general, make any effort to remove the Menorrah's of their Jewish neighbors, or ban the prayer-mats of their Islamic friends. In this same light, they should not be prohibited from openly observing their own faith.

In general, when the issue of banning public observations of Christmas arise, the objections to the public celebrations come from a single individual or a very small group of individuals. The claim they usually make is that their individual right not to be exposed to anything Christian exceeds the rights of the larger group which wants to celebrate Christmas. This is not an ideal that is supported by the United States Constitution. The Constitution protects an individual's right to freedom of speech, and their right to public assembly. There is no individual right not to be exposed to ideas that you disagree with. There is no individual right to censor others because you disagree with them.

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