'Santa Will Take You to Hell': The Battle Over Christmas Really Heats Up

Posted by PZ Myers, Pharyngula at 10:02 AM on December 12, 2008.

The skirmish over Christmas in Washington state just gets funnier every day.

Now someone wants to put up a Festivus pole in the capitol. That's hilarious enough, but it gets better.

The Westboro Baptist Church has demanded to be allowed to put up a sign that says, "Santa Claus will take you to Hell". I never thought I'd laugh at Fred Phelps and his gang of hateful loonies, but there you go.

We aren't done yet! Bill Donohue of the Catholic League has to butt in and bray, too.

Gov. Gregoire is responsible for this mess. Having first acceded to the requests of atheists to attack Christmas, she is now confronted with the likes of the Westboro Baptist Church, a viciously anti-American, anti-Catholic and anti-gay group. There is a way to deal with this situation in a manner that is legally acceptable and morally defensible, but neither the Washington governor, nor her lawyers, have figured it out.

I know, I know! How about keeping the government entirely secular, throwing all the Christmas kitsch out of the capitol, and admitting that government has no business promoting any religious beliefs at all? That would be my solution. I think it's clear by now that in a country with a crazy plurality of religious ideas, each one demanding equal recognition, the only fair decision is no recognition at all.

Unfortunately, Bully Donohue can't figure that out. His solution is some pointless shuffling of signage around to keep the atheists separate from the nativity scene.

Tagged as: religion, holidays, secular, christmast

PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris. He runs the science blog, Pharyngula.