I don't think everything in life needs to be fair and balanced.

If your town square has had a nativity scene for the last umteen years then keep it as is.

If Santa makes a yearly appearence at your city counsel meetings great. Tradition should count for something in this country. I don't feel like we need to add a menorah, Kwanzaa thingy, etc... to every town square and building just to be "fair" and I actively resent people who try and stamp out traditional displays altogether as if that is somehow the moral high ground.

Look at the pretty lights, feel a little holiday cheer and get the F' over it.

Note: Just in case you were wondering, Christian symbolism is not exactly my cup of tea, as has been discussed previously I'm more of an Apathyst. Still I don't see the need to rain on the general holiday parade and I do like pretty lights and santa hats.

Love the avatar Moonie!:D

Aside from being constantly amazed at the number of people in this world who think that being mean-spirited is the way to win converts, I was wondering if there were going to be pagans who were put off by solistice references.

Ditto...to this entire post.

I think that the other sign - was it a bus billboard - that referenced being good for goodness sake sort of think might be less inflamatory.

On the other hand, I find it comforting to not feel like the only one and having a public display professing that I'm not alone in feeling that way, is sort of cool.

But does the nativity scene offend me? No. In general, I don't really care much about it at all.

As much as it pains me to do this: I agree wholeheartedly with Moonliner (although I did delete his last ¶)

Given that he is wrong so often, I do need to throw him a bone once in a while so as not to completely demoralize him.

While I might generally agree with Moonliner, I doubt either of you have been been first-hand targets of religious intolerance. I might agree that there's a point where sensitivity becomes over sensitivity, but it's easy to say, "It's just tradition, get over it," when you've never had a religious slur thrown your way.

We traditionally did things like discriminate and that doesn't make it ok.

I do there there is value in the tradition argument, and even when of religious origin, a traditional thing carries some secular value.

I think that argument, however, was shredded when their were lawsuits charging that the traditional thing was not sufficiently religious and therefore more overt religious symbolism should be allowed (attempts to require calling it a Christmas tree rather than holiday tree and then to add a nativity scene).