Separation of Church and State and Holiday Religious Displays

Your editorial about Christmas (Dec. 17) perpetuates the myth that the Constitution of the United States mandates the separation of church and state. The idea that it does arises from an inaccurate paraphrase of the First Amendment.

A more accurate paraphrase would be: “Do not establish an official religion and do permit free practice of religion.” There is nothing in that paraphrase about separating church and state, nor is there anything in it prohibiting the state from engaging in ecumenical religious activity.

Your suggestion that people should not wish other people “Merry Christmas” because the recipient might not be a Christian is a restriction upon the free exercise of his religion by the Christian and is in violation of the First Amendment prohibition against restricting religious freedom.

What about creches and Christmas carols? Banning them from city halls and schools could be construed as restricting free practice of religion; so, since the Constitution does not prohibit the state from participating in religious activity, why not? Such a practice could be made ecumenical by inviting each of the major religions--Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism and American Indian--to pick one of its holidays and to sponsor displays and programs around that holiday. Such a policy would meet both requirements about religion in the First Amendment.

However, if we are so bigoted that we cannot tolerate any religious expression connected with the state, then the painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe on a wall in Santa Ana’s Flower Park should be sandblasted away. To allow expression of only one religion while banning all others is one step toward establishing an official religion, which is unconstitutional. However, to sandblast the Virgin of Guadalupe because it interferes with free expression of religion, would be no more constitutional than leaving it up by itself. The constitutional solution is to put into the same park a painting of the same size and visibility representing each of the religions mentioned above--plus something for Protestants, the Virgin of Guadalupe belonging particularly to Mexican Catholicism.

What about the myth? How did it arise and take hold? Because the American people are no longer well-versed in the contents of the Constitution of the United States of America and what these contents mean. What we need is an intensive campaign to familiarize the American people with the contents of the Constitution of the United States of America, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address and other similar documents and with the meaning of their contents.

JUANITA MATASSA

Santa Ana