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Golden may curb religious displays on city property

By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 12, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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The Golden City Council will consider an ordinance Thursday that limits religious displays on city property during the holidays.

Golden each year decorates downtown trees with lights but does not erect a Christmas tree or mount a display like the one at the Denver City and County Building.

An ordinance to keep it that way was introduced after a Golden rabbi sought permission to erect a menorah, the nine-stemmed candelabra symbolic of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah.

Rabbi Levi Brackman said Jewish children feel left out during the holidays, when symbols of Christmas are everywhere.

"There's always an inequality. Christmas is everywhere; Hanukkah is nowhere," Brackman said. "So, for the Jewish kid, he always feels left out in this time of year."

But Golden Mayor Jacob Smith said he doesn't want to go there.

"It makes sense to me to say, 'Let's not have any religious symbols of any kind,' " Smith said.

"Don't get the government in the business of deciding what symbols, what religions (to represent) . . . but be respectful of all religious traditions and just not have any symbols up at all on public property," Smith said.

The proposed ordinance permits trees, garlands, wreaths or other foliage as part of a display on city property. The display may include white or colored lights, as well as purely secular symbols of the season, such as icicles or snowflakes.

Written messages that are part of a display must be secular and approved in advance by the city manager in consultation with the city attorney.

"Holiday displays containing religious symbols or symbols associated with a particular religious or cultural tradition shall not be permitted by the city," the proposal says. An exception is made for museum or educational displays.

The ordinance doesn't limit people from erecting religious displays on their own property, or exclude people from public property who are wearing a religious symbol, Smith said.

Fort Collins in 2006 decided to limit its holiday display to a Christmas tree erected in a public square, excluding a menorah. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that such displays are primarily secular.

Brackman, who heads an outreach group called Judaism in the Foothills, said the proposed ordinance discriminates against religious people.

"For some reason, people think that just allowing secular (displays) makes it generic," Brackman said. "It doesn't. It just makes secular people happy."

He called City Council members who support the proposal "ardent, radical secularists . . . It's a shame. I don't know whether it represents people who live in the city."

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall Council Chambers, 911 10th St., Golden. The proposed ordinance was No. 12 on a 14-item agenda on the city's Web site Tuesday.

Comments

  • November 12, 2008

    7:29 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mama_mia writes:

    Brackman is wrong. Secular displays don't "just make secular people happy". I am a Christian, and I am happy without religious Christmas displays on public property. I celebrate in my home and in my church, and I don't need a manger scene or a Santa Claus on the grass in front of a city building to have a wonderful, spiritual Christmas.

    I have Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and atheist friends, though, and they feel like Christmas is everywhere. I am all for toning it down a little in order to make them feel less excluded, for it has no effect on me at all. I don't believe that God would be offended either, as long as we continue to celebrate the holiday in HIS home.

  • November 12, 2008

    9 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    blacksho89 writes:

    Look, lighted trees in December are definitely "associated with a particular religious or cultural tradition". If you deny that a lighted tree is a Christian symbol, then you must be acknowledging that it is a symbol of old pagan religions. These councilmembers are afraid to stand either way, and that is plain sickening. Either say no displays at all, or allow all religions and cultures to be represented.

  • November 12, 2008

    9:08 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    needforchange writes:

    This is rediculous. Why is it one man can ruin so much?

  • November 12, 2008

    1:14 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    protestboy writes:

    "Secular displays don't "just make secular people happy". I am a Christian, and I am happy without religious Christmas displays on public property. I celebrate in my home and in my church, and I don't need a manger scene or a Santa Claus on the grass in front of a city building to have a wonderful, spiritual Christmas."

    Wow! A thoughtful, respectful, and logical post. I wish more people felt the same. The fiasco in Fort Collins last year was ridiculous.

  • November 12, 2008

    1:20 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    tillzen writes:

    Let's see ... where to start ... When talk-radio turned Christmas into the election of Jesus' birth as a national vote, all it did was to further pimp the season. Christmas has been made gross, by the masses. The Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa crowd are now joining activist Christians to further kill the fatted calf.
    Jesus either is Lord or he is not. God either exists or it does not. A religion, a culture, and faith either exists or it does not. Christmas season may be for sale, but to many of us, we plan to vote "None of the Above".
    We have tried to be polite by saying "Happy Holidays" and not ridiculing Kwanzaa as yet another marketing tool. Instead activist Christians answer us with a bold "Merry Christmas!", Rabbi Brackman uses his kids for political purpose, and African Americans will find these truths to be offensive.
    Once faith and culture were private. Now we are talk-show nation, and religion,faith, and sex are on display. Our cars, our lapels, our tushes read "WWJD" or "Juicy", and we who are more private are sick of it.
    We are not for sale. We celebrate the Holidays for our kids and grandkids. I'm sorry if your faith or culture obsess you, but butt out! We don't care that you are so brittle that a Tree or Menorah or First Fruits make you nervous. E pluribus unum is our God. Save your faith for after you die. You will either be right or wrong, while we have lives to live outside of your influence. We simply don't have time for YOUR preciousness and need.
    "Happy Holidays"!

  • November 12, 2008

    3:43 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    rg writes:

    Matthew 2 claims Jehovah posturing as Jesus was born in a house: Display a house.

  • November 12, 2008

    7:46 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    jbowen43 writes:

    Religious displays abound on private property so why should they be necessary on public property?