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Christmas vs. holiday debate gets contentious at Wis. Capitol
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| Contributor | Servo |
| Last Edited | Servo Nov 29, 2007 04:52pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Wednesday, November 28, 2007 10:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Oh, how the holidays can be stressful.
A debate over what to call the giant tree in the Capitol this time of year turned contentious during a public hearing on Wednesday.
Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, asked his colleagues to support his plan to rename the holiday tree the "Wisconsin State Christmas Tree." He said the tree was known as a Christmas tree from 1916 until wobbly state officials changed its name in 1985.
"I am here today to voice the ire and frustration of the majority of people of the state of Wisconsin who want their Christmas tree back in the state Capitol, not a politically correct holiday tree," Schneider said, nearly shouting.
But Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation said lawmakers shouldn't waste their time debating such trivial issues. Calling it a "Christmas" tree would offend nonreligious people and amount to a government endorsement of Christianity, she added.
"The state of Wisconsin cannot have a Christmas anything," said Gaylor, whose Madison-based group represents atheists and agnostics.
Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, wasn't buying her argument. He said the word holiday itself "means holy day, representative of Christmas, the holiest day in the Christian calendar."
"You will not be happy until we have a godless world," he told Gaylor. "You ask for an unreasonable degree of political correctness."
Gaylor shot back. "If you know you're excluding people by calling it a Christmas tree, why should you do that? It's impolite." |
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