Yes, the right-wingers are now trying to turn themselves in to victims over the most meaningless drivel,this despite the fact they have been in control of the national agenda since 1980 at least, and they totally control the government.
So the latest thing is that the Godless secular humanists are evil Grinches stealing Christmas from everybody.
Well, there's a reason why some people are skittish about public sponshorship of Christmans, and it dates back to 1905. So, in honor of the 99th aniversary of the Brownsville Christmas boycott, here's a link for some background:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/Brownsville.html
more below the fold
The neighborhood in question was 80% Jewish. When the insensitive (to put it mildly) comments of the principla came out, the local Jewish community basically threw a major fit. After the dust settled, wich didn;t happen intil 1906, the result was that Christmas celebrations in the New York Public schools were secularized. (Basically, trees, snowmen, and Santas, no mention of JC.)
This whole issue of the "December Dilemma" is a major issue, perhaps the major issue that American Jews confront regarding their identity as Americans and as Jews. There's a book about Hanukka published by the Conservative Jewish movement in which at least a third of the book is about Christmas!
What's also interesting is that back in 1905, the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations was among the leaders in the protest. Today, I think that most of the Orthodox institutions wouldn't care at all. Their position is that all Jews should be attending Jewish parochial scools (and that such schools should get government aid), so what the goyim do is their own business.
As for me, persoanlly, I attended a suburban public school where I was one of only 5 Jewish kids (and two of the other Jews were siblings.) Basically, I went with the flow, our only instructions from home were to not sing during the Christmas carols with religious themes. Hanukka songs? Hahaha! Nobody else cared about Hanukka, expect that some of my buddies were jealous because we got gifts for 8 nights. (But only one gift per night, the Christian kids got more loot.)
The main problem with these holiday celebrations in the schools is that they overdo it, taking valuable time away from cramming for the high-stakes No Child Left behind tests that will determine the kids' future.
So, in summary, let's have a big cheer for the Yiddish-speaking immigrant riff-raff (my ancestors) in Brownville, Brooklyn who, 99 years ago, struck a blow for multiculturalism. And a jeer for some of their descendants who have aligned themselfs with the right-wingers who want to reverse the trend of a century.
Suggestions for celebrating the Centenay of the Brownville Public School Boycott are always welcomed.