Hickenlooper should concentrate on finding a better barber and leave Christmas alone.
Posted on 12/03/2004 6:46:46 AM PST by mondoman
City Hall inundated with opposition to 'Happy Holidays' sign
It's a merry Christmas after all.
Mayor John Hickenlooper, seeking to distance himself from Ebenezer Scrooge, said Thursday he wouldn't replace the "Merry Christmas" sign outside City Hall with one that instead read "Happy Holidays."
"I apologize to anyone who may have been offended or mistakenly felt I was being anti-Christmas," he said. "Hickenlooper might have two O's, but I am not Scrooge."
The controversy started last week when the mayor suggested a more inclusive sign might be used and thought "Happy Holidays" could encompass a variety of religious and cultural observations that fall in December - notably Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
But shortly after he said it, offices at City Hall were flooded by "hundreds of calls," according to the mayor, asking why he would ever consider such an idea.
One of those was Jim Reilly of Lakewood.
When he got wind of Hickenlooper's idea, he called and left messages for every member of the Denver City Council the day after Thanksgiving. The 55-year-old was irritated, believing the mayor was slighting the holiday.
Reilly said, however, the mayor's decision Thursday was the right one.
"I'm glad he came to his senses," he said.
But Philip Wogaman, president of the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, wasn't so sure.
Wogaman said as a mayor representing a diverse citizenry, allowing a phrase that is decidedly centered toward one faith - as "Merry Christmas" is - could be considered somewhat exclusionary to those who aren't Christian.
"On that score, I would have to say it's not proper for a political figure to imply that the entire community is of any one faith," Wogaman said. "On the other hand, I could understand a political figure extending the same kind of courtesy to all different faith groups."
The debate over government's role in Christmas dates back to the late '80s when a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling limited religious displays on government property. The ruling banned such things as Nativity scenes if they appeared to be an endorsement of a specific religion.
However, the court ruled 6-3 at the same time that a grouping of seasonal symbols was acceptable on government property.
Denver City Hall, in addition to the sign, has a creche, secular symbols including Santa Claus, reindeer and a series of colorful lights adorning the building. The Nativity scene, Hickenlooper said, has been around for decades and there are no plans to remove it.
Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, said the dividing line between secular and religious displays has grown sharper in recent years.
"They're butting up on the forces of the new reawakening of Christian values that we seem to have seen the last election," Thompson said. "Now we are seeing the two sides clashing."
Even Charlie Brown - sans Vince Guaraldi music - weighed in on the flap.
"There's a small group out there that would love to remove any hint of religion out of public life. They would love to sanitize this country by removing religion," Councilman Brown said. "Once we start that, what's next? We can't sing God Bless America at the end of the seventh inning of the Colorado Rockies games?"
Hickenlooper, the son of a Sunday school teacher, said he was surprised at the attention his earlier statement brought but hoped to defuse the controversy.
"I wish everyone a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa or simply season's greetings," he said.
I loved this headline in 96pt Type accoss the front page of today's Rocky.
And the left continues to wonder why the Christians who place priority on values continue to make themselves heard....
The Governator just change the "Holiday Tree" back to the "Christmas tree" too! Its gonna be a great Christmas!
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/10325591.htm?1c
What kind of JACKASS QUOTE is THAT?
See, these libs? They are afraid of the people. They are made of NOTHING. A gust of wind and they fall down. It's the same as that Florida company right after 9-11 that outlawed people putting American flags in their cubicles. It's like that "1000 Mogadishu's" professor at Columbia U. They go out on a limb, they get smacked in the face from the massive conservative backlash, and they back down like the pusssies they are. What a whimp. You'd think that Bolshevik Atheist would at least stand his ground for a week or more and then cave. These guys are NOTHING, I tell you, NOTHING when faced with the outrage of the People.
[Wogaman said as a mayor representing a diverse citizenry, allowing a phrase that is decidedly centered toward one faith - as "Merry Christmas" is - could be considered somewhat exclusionary to those who aren't Christian.]
This comment is just plain stupid. If you are not a Christian, you are automatically excluded by virtue of the fact that you don't celebrate Christian holidays. Christians don't celebrate religious holidays acknowledged by other religions and are excluded from those.
Whether some people like it or not, this country was founded and progressed based on Christian beliefs. People should be able to acknowledge this and not be ashamed of it. There is nothing wrong with our government participating in Christian holidays. They all take the day off don't they?
Heard from the minister on Laura Ingrahahm last night. He saw the "Festival of Lights" parade last year and thought it could use a Christian float.
A battle won. The war continues. Onward Christian solders.
Well, it's refreshing to see someone in authority have the guts to stand up for what's right....finally! I've never understood why everyone wants to change Christmas to Holiday. They don't with other religious holidays, they are called by their rightful names and most aren't celebrated at Christmas time anyway. Why would they be included.
All one has to go to is a website that shows how to say "Merry Christmas!" in all those foreign languages. It is the central holiday all of the immigrants who make up the biggest population growth in Denver: Latinos. (Feliz Navidad!). There are CHRISTMAS song and displays and signs on public property in Japan, Korea, India, South Africa, Thailand, Peru, Holland, Ireland, Panama, Bulgaria, you name it.
It is also the holiday celebrated by the MAJORITY in the United States and the MAJORITY in the city of Denver. But these libs only know MINORITY RULE and the Supremacy of Secular Humanism over true diversity, despite the fact that they and the Mayor were simply out-of-tune with the great majority of Denverites, Americans and The WORLD.
Anyone that cares about preserving American culture should be fighting in this war. Not just Christians. My husband and I are agnostic and we have been sending religious Christmas cards and playing religious Christmas carols at high volume in our home as a protest. We also say Merry Christmas to everyone. I am planning to send a large stack of religious Christmas cards to the ACLU. As I said, I'm not religious, but I'm angry that an important part of our culture is being destroyed and I'm not going to sit here and just watch it happen.
"I apologize to anyone who may have been offended"
Translation:
If you're a simple minded idiot, redneck, backwoods, uneducated fool. Not fortunate enough to be on the same intelectual level as myself, well then... I apologize for that. If you had something more than just a brain stem then you would have understood nuance of my statements.
I think "The Big Jerk(off)" had always skipped this part and just get to the "I've already apologized for that".
Hickenlooper should concentrate on finding a better barber and leave Christmas alone.
You are right. It is as much a CULTURAL WAR as it is a RELIGIOUS WAR. People, despite their own proclivities and free beliefs, are able to join this battle and fight on the one side of either aspect of this issue, from cultural or religious or even both positions, fighting those who would destroy Christmas. Thanks gain, SSCPOW, for engaging The Enemy Within.
Not to mention, teeth whitener (it seems).
Add to weekeind lead on Target and JC Penny's
Ho-ho-ho
This mayor's gotta go...
God bless us, every one!
"I don't trust anyone...except my barber."
I'm Catholic, but I've got friends who run the gamut from old-fashioned Southern Church of Christ to Calvinist Presbys to Conservative Jews to Hindus. We all get along just fine. I have never had a problem with a devout follower of any faith -- the problems always arise with the folks who SAY they are Methodist or Catholic or whatever but don't go to church or practice any faith other than liberal secularism . . .
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