Page 16 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • December 21, 2011 The so-called Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution was never meant to ban religious symbols from public property. The Establishment Clause was meant to forbid members of any church, or of none, to be taxed to support a church to which they didn’t belong. Many of the original colonies had been founded by religious groups – Congregational in Massachusetts, Anglican in Virginia, Catholic in Maryland – and the writers of the Constitution, a mixture of Christians and some Deists, but no public atheists – wanted to make sure people were not forced to support churches they did not attend. That’s all it meant. If George Washington’s army – many of them Irish Catholics – had been told they couldn’t recite Christian prayers or have clergyman attend to them, they probably would have thrown down their muskets and gone on strike. Children read The Bible in school at the beginning of the day until, I think, my senior year, and I saw nothing to suggest that it interfered with our educations. My take was that a clause in an amendment that had been intended to protect freedom of worship was being used to interfere with freedom of expression. I told them that, for what it was worth, they didn’t have to worry about objections from our newspaper and that I would explain the issue to the readers. I can’t say whether I swayed the Wyckoff Township Committee’s decision in any way, but future Wyckoff Township Attorney and future Judge Ed Torak took the appeal prepared with the help of present Wyckoff Township Attorney Robert Landel into the federal court system. Wyckoff won. The ruling from Federal Judge Dickinson Debevoise – who stood up for America as a combat soldier in World War II and an officer in the Korean War --was that municipalities had the right to display symbols of specific religions provided that they did not discriminate against the symbols of other religions and allowed secular displays as well. Maybe he had seen in Europe and Korea what horrors the persecution of religious groups can lead to, and he clearly understood what the U.S. Constitution said and meant. Wyckoff now displays a Nativity scene, a menorah, carolers, skaters, and a snowman. A number of other towns that had been backed down by the ACLU snapped back once Wyckoff took the case to court. The message was quite clear: The Township of Wyckoff, now backed by the federal court system, would no longer submit to bullying. Christmas and Chanukah, in fact, work very well together. Chanukah celebrates the victory of the Jews, then the only monogamous religion west of Persia, over a GrecoSyrian tyrant who attempted to make a god out of himself and tried to force the Jews to forsake the dignity and common sense of their own faith for a pagan blasphemy. After torture and rebellion ending in a Jewish victory, the Jews reclaimed their right to a belief that acknowledged the supremacy of God and the fact that all men and women are governed by laws that recognize no exceptions to moral responsibility. I think anybody who objects to celebrating a holiday like that has issues. I feel the same about Passover, another holiday that marks a victory of freedom and religious dignity over oppression and paganism. Once, when my son and I were driving through Ramsey and Mahwah, WQXR was offering a Passover program. He enjoyed playing the verbal games. While he was in the middle, we drove gently through an enormous herd of deer peacefully crossing the road. It was an oddly transcendent moment. One of the top tickets this season is the Dead Sea Scrolls display at Times Square. The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947, were at first feared because they might expose something scary about the origins of Judaism or of Christianity. In fact, they turned out to be a source of comfort and joy. Once the Dead Sea Scrolls were restored, they revealed that every book of the Old Testament (the Jewish Bible) except for the Book of Esther was intact at the time of the first Roman conquest, and displayed the oldest manuscript copy of the Jewish Bible by about 800 years. The scrolls thus also confirmed that the Messianic prophecies cited by Christians had existed in ancient times, and were not added by medieval forgers. Since the Dead Sea Scrolls were copied by ultra-devout Jews, there would have been no motivation to strengthen the Christian faith then growing inside Judaism. Christians and Jews both gained a great source of faith when a Muslim found the Dead Sea Scrolls hidden in caves and sold them to another Muslim, who sold them to Christian scholars, who are now sharing in the continued context evaluation with Jewish scholars. The discovery should be a delight for everyone. It should go without saying that any idea that a responsible celebration of Christmas should be restricted due to a misinterpretation of the Establishment Clause is doomed from the start. Christianity outlived Stalin and Mao, the two worst killers in human history. Many Russians today wear visible crosses. (I used to “smuggle” Bibles into Russia by mail, so this delights me.) In addition, around a third of all Chinese are now Christian. Most people agree this is better than Stalin and Mao. Chanukah helped save Judaism, which began the fulcrum for Christianity, and Christianity may yet save the world from the malevolence of those who hate all religions or all members of any religion and use that hate to make political points. Councilman Robert Schoepflin in Allendale dryly asked the two women who were seeking a menorah what would happen if somebody showed up and wanted to put up a Muslim crescent and star. Both women said they would have no problem with that. They won me over instantly. Put up the menorah, put up the crèche, put up the crescent, and give us all peace in the New Year from people who hate and hurt. I think that is a message all religions preach when you get beyond a handful of exploiters in each group. I think that is the message we all need. I was warmed to the cockles of my heart when a couple of nice women addressed the Allendale Council to urge that the borough place a menorah on the front lawn. Mayor Vince Barra told the women that policy has been not to display any religious symbols on municipal property, but he thought the policy could use a new look and perhaps, as he said, a new tradition. Stepping briefly out of my reporter’s role, I said Chanukah is an excellent holiday because it celebrates the victory of liberty over tyranny, and I agreed in principle that both Christmas and Chanukah could morally and legally be celebrated on public property -- and should be. Fortunately, I’m not the only person who feels that way. My son and his wife just had a son of their own. I showed everybody at the meeting the photo, including the mayor, the clerk, the council, and the two Chanukah advocates. But I was carried back in memory to the days when I actually did something right for a change and helped defend religious liberty for Christians and Jews against the forces of another tyranny. My son used to ride with me to Wyckoff Town Hall to take part in Team Up to Tidy Up and to watch the unfolding of public business. He did this from the time he was quite young. While he was being home-schooled, one of his favorite films was “Waterloo” with Christopher Plummer and Rod Steiger. He could do an over-the-top imitation of Steiger playing Napoleon Bonaparte from the time he learned to talk, and he did one often. Once, when his sister rebuked him for some minor breach of peace, he popped his eyes, turned red in the face, and echoing Steiger, Johnny screamed: Don’t you dare criticize your emperor! Don’t you dare!” His nickname with his older sister Emily was “The Emperor” for months afterward. “They were both fat!” said Emily – and he cultivated the resemblance. One day we pulled into the Wyckoff Town Hall lot and a special flag he hadn’t seen was flying just below the Star-Spangled Banner. “Do you know that that means, Johnny?” I asked. Johnny glowered. “It means the Pwussians have taken the municipal building!” he said with glum defiance. “If there’s one thing I regret, it’s that I didn’t burn Berlin! But as far as you’re concerned – and the army! – they’re on the moon.” (The next Waterloo reenactment in Belgium is in 2015. My wife tells me Johnny and I are going. I forgot to ask if her offer covers a ticket for the return trip.) No Prussians were present the night Johnny and I helped make history – I’m said to be one-quarter -- but the Wyckoff Township Committee had gathered to confer about a threat from the American Civil Liberties Union. If Wyckoff didn’t take the Nativity scene off the front lawn of town hall, they would be in heap trouble. In a cramped room something like the room where Christopher Plummer drew a circle around Waterloo on his campaign map, I advanced the view that the ACLU was off base. Even the Prussians didn’t restrict religious expression, and some of their medals were stamped with a Star of David along with a cross and an eagle. Christmas & Chanukah: Celebrate both holidays Letters to the Editor Dear Editor: I see the village council shot down the very necessary modernization of our beloved Valley Hospital. Now where will we go five years from now when we take a fall or have a heart attack? Resident airs concerns But, what can you expect from a group that cannot even keep the streets smooth and drivable? Now that the Valley expansion has been finalized, just when will town hall repave our terrible streets? Larry Roshon Ridgewood Several members of Harmony Celebration Chorus of Ridgewood led by director Scott Brannon recently sang in the lobby of the Intercontinental Barclay Hotel in New York City. They entertained hotel guests and passers-by with holiday favorites in fourpart barbershop harmony and some crowd pleasing seasonal sing-alongs. To find out more about HCC, call (877) 220-1681 and speak to Roberta, e-mail harmonycelebration@gmail.com or visit www.harmonycelebration.com. Holiday harmony