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Fort Collins council nixes plan for secular display

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 21, 2007 at 12:30 a.m.

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Tommie Burris, 4, is held by her mother, Bonnie Burris, with Bonnie's sister, Judy Kuhn, joining them at a lecturn as Tommie asks the Fort Collins City Council to uphold Christmas tradition. The council then rejected a proposal to create a secular, multicultural display.

Photo by Photo By Linda McConnell © Special To The Rocky

Tommie Burris, 4, is held by her mother, Bonnie Burris, with Bonnie's sister, Judy Kuhn, joining them at a lecturn as Tommie asks the Fort Collins City Council to uphold Christmas tradition. The council then rejected a proposal to create a secular, multicultural display.

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City Council members heeded the call of "don't mess with tradition" on Tuesday when they rejected a proposal to create a strictly secular, multicultural display of the holiday season starting next year.

The council's 6-1 decision means the traditional show of colored lights, ornamented greenery and Christmas trees will remain on city property, as it has for many years.

The council also agreed to pursue a city-appointed task force's idea to create an inclusive multicultural "religious" exhibition at the city museum. The educational display would create a wide- ranging exhibition showing how at least nine religions celebrate a winter holiday.

The decision came during a meeting that drew a crowd of 150 people, lasted more than three hours and included 43 speakers. Speakers implored the council to honor Christmas as the holiday celebrated by a majority of local residents.

The task force, on the other hand, wanted strictly white lights, bare garlands and secular symbols such as snowflakes because colored lights and ornamented trees were too suggestive of a religious Christmas.

The council decision echoed the opinion of Mayor Doug Hutchinson, who said 95 percent of the 200 e-mails he received recently said "don't diminish Christmas . . . don't mess with tradition."

"In my opinion these traditions should stand," Hutchinson said, and also praised the inclusive idea of the educational museum.

"Adding (inclusiveness) to the traditional displays fits Fort Collins."

Speakers see hijacking

Most of the speakers were critical of the 15-member task force and accused it of deliberately downgrading Christmas.

John Morris said the task force was only tolerant of its own arguments and had no intention of being tolerant of Christmas.

"The work of the task force has been hijacked by activists," he said, adding that the ultimate intention of many on the panel was to create an atheist state.

Neil Caffrey cited a local poll that he said showed more than 80 percent of the public wanted the display to reflect the traditional Christmas message.

"The makeup of the task force does not reflect the makeup of this town," said Caffrey. "Afford Christmas the same dignity that is afforded other cultural celebrations. Don't lump it together with other celebrations because it diminishes the dignity of a celebration that's very important to a wide variety of people in this town."

Allen Ginsborg said he wondered why the task force included a member of American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a number of lawsuits to eliminate religious displays in public areas.

"In the future, please don't allow the ACLU to hijack a legitimate process," Ginsborg said.

Another speaker wondered if the city was setting a precedent that bordered on the absurd: "Will we have task force on the Fourth of July to take in different opinions (about that holiday)?" he asked.

Former Mayor Ray Martinez said that it was a mistake to say government had no role in religion, noting that the council began the meeting with the pledge of allegiance and the words, "one nation under God."

"You led that (pledge)," he told the council.

Some defend proposal

A few speakers defended the task force.

"Christmas should be celebrated in homes and families," said Sam Shelanski. "It's not government's job to put Christ back in Christmas. This is not a Christian nation. It was not founded on Christ."

Task force member Karen Schwartz praised the panel's work and read from a published opinion piece that decried the perception that the country was specifically Christian. Besides, Schwartz said, "The American Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus," which drew loud laughter.

Some said Fort Collins had opened itself up to national ridicule by its attempt to eliminate tradition.

"What you do here will echo across the United States," said Jack Needy.

Comments

  • November 21, 2007

    7:33 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    milloy36 writes:

    ACLU and the task force is led by Barney Fife and Andy stepped in and squashed this stupid idea.

  • November 21, 2007

    10:01 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    GrayOwl writes:

    "The American Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus," a panel member asserts. Hmmmmm. You could have fooled me. I wonder how she came up with that nonesense. Is she simply naive? Does she wear blinders? Does she choose to ignore reality? True, some celebrate the commercial portions more than the religious meaning. But to assert that it has "nothing" (an all-inclusive word, meaning no exceptions) to do with Jesus is a gross misstatement of fact. Even the non-religious, and those who exercise their right to practice religions other then Christianity, should be able to see this -- at the very least when driving past churches during the holiday season. Any American has a right to practice the religion(s) of his or her choice, or none at all. At the same time, no one -- and certainly no government entity -- has a right to quash an American's right to practice the religion(s) of his or her choice.

  • November 21, 2007

    10:51 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    sqjnk writes:

    the tyranny of the majority...
    just because a majority of people support it doesn't make it right. There have been points in our country's history where a majority of the people believed...

    non white european people were inferior and could be annihilated or enslaved
    women were second class citizens who were too delicate to vote or work outside the home
    homosexuals don't deserve basic human rights (like a marriage or being protected from hate crimes)

    The aclu didn't ruin christmas, it is every company and every individual who makes christmas about buying things and getting things rather than what christmas is truly about.
    what is Christmas truly about anyways? I was raised christian and I still don't know. I just remember getting lots of presents. Is santa christian? Is a christmas tree christian? Are pretty colored lights christian?

    keep christmas where it should be, in homes and churches. keep it out of where it shouldn't be,
    in government and business. religion is corrupted and debased by commercialism, consumerism and capitalism, which in my humble opinion are the true religions of our country.

    only ___ shopping days left till christmas!

  • November 21, 2007

    7:47 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    GrayOwl writes:

    Wow! I probably am in a minority. But I think Christians should be able to determine for themselves whether they wish to celebrate Christmas in their homes, churches or somewhere else. It's not my business. Nor is it anyone else's business to suggest, or require, how or whether I choose to observe a religion. Frankly, I do not object to colored lights and strong retail performance; rather I like both with a bit of preference toward the latter. There are many more serious topics about which to worry in the world of 2007.

    If someone who calls himself/herself a Christian chooses to have his/her celebration include purchases and gifts, that is his/her right. If someone else chooses not to do so, that is his/her right.

    It is not my right to determine how someone else observes his/her religion, or whether he/she practices a religion at all.

    Why do some have this insatiable urge to meddle, to try to interpret something as personal as someone else's religion for that person? I object to those who wish to make these decisions for everone else, whether they be part of the religious right or the sanctimonious left. Just back off, please, and let people go their own way. You have no right to meddle in my affairs, and you are not welcome there. In return, I have no interest or intention in meddling in yours, and I shall not go there.

  • November 23, 2007

    1:56 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    notyetdead writes:

    What non-CHRISTIANS, Atheists, Lawyers and the like seem to not understand. Is that despite all the bull to the contrary, Christmas is a CHRISTIAN holiday. NOT Jewish, NOT Muslim, NOT Atheist and NOT Buddhist.

    The same people who are trying to change this CHRISTIAN holiday into some secular 'nothing' are by and large the same people who turned it into a circus in many locations. Now that their grubby moneyed fingers feel safe in saying "See here, see what it has become, that this is no longer a Christian holiday" they've begun an all out war to destroy Christian holy days, Christian idols, etc. Funny how no other religion in these United States are ever earmarked for the same treatment.

    A few years back good ole San Fran decided that Xmas trees and manger displays were no longer appropriate on city and NON-city property (any public area) though the Jewish 'menorah' was okay to display because it was a 'secular' symbol not a religious symbol. Go figure!

    To my mind this surge of 'godlessness' that has overtaken the courts and much of the country will have the same results as it did in Rome. The Muslims won't have to fight us for this country - they'll just walk in and take it.

    George Orwell and avowed atheist said it best in 1947 - no country can survive but for a few generations if they have no belief in God. He went on to explain, that with no God their is no afterlife, with no afterlife or judgement day, there is no moral compass for a society and that society will soon perish through its own self-absorption and deceit.

  • November 23, 2007

    8:52 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    me2 writes:

    notyetdead, go back and study why Rome really fell. Had nothing to do with God/Goddesses or Gods. And those folks had a plethora of Gods, one for every day of the year. Maybe, too much religion killed them off.

    Orwell was a fine writer, but not a genius.

    And evergreens, mistletoe and holly are pagan rites of worship, not Christian. Christmas is indead a Christian holiday, but the entire season is not Christian. Just that one day.

  • November 24, 2007

    8:43 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    jmac_07 writes:

    Rome fell because it rotted from within, a victim of its own success. With a lower class of slaves to do all the menial labor the middle class became soft, enjoying the decadent lifestyle of a hedonistic society. It was not religion that destroyed rome....it was godless liberalism run amok. While Rome lay drunk , fat and happy in their own social excesses, it ignored the barbarians at the gates until it was too late. Will america do the same?

    Leave americas traditions alone...