John Norris

To the editor:In response to Ed Sauer's letter, in which he states "This country is going downhill because we have taken God and prayer out of our schools and lives," et cetera, well, I have to strongly disagree with this statement. What has caused problems all through history is not taking prayer out of the schools; it is people being intolerant of other people's beliefs or ideas.We have had 2,000 years of Christians, Jews and Muslims all fighting over the same god (the God of Abraham), yet killing and hating over different doctrines. A perfect example of being intolerant is saying that we need to put (Christian) prayer in the schools. What about the Jewish, Muslim or pagan kids in the classroom? What about the kids who are brought up as agnostic or atheist? Should these kids be forced to pray to a god that is not real to them just because you feel that belief is right for you? Or should we force all the kids to be Christian? If this is what you believe, then thats part of the problem, not the solution. This country was founded on freedom of religion, not the Christian faith only. Not all of our founding fathers were Christians; some were deists. All wanted the same thing, freedom to choose. In my opinion, all religions, gods and their doctrines (other than history) belong in the homes and the churches, not the public school system. If someone was trying to institute prayer to the Egyptian god Horus or some of the pagan gods as part of your child's education, you would be on a bandwagon to stop it! Then why should it be any different with Christianity?As far as the proper greeting, I have found that most of the people I am in contact with couldn't care less if you say "merry Christmas" or "happy holidays." But if we really want to be politically correct, let's say happy winter solstice, because Dec. 25 really has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus other than what ancient men wanted to adopt from pagan rituals and beliefs, and adjust them to the Christian faith in order to unite both the Christians and the pagans of that time period. Maybe you should pick up a history book on the Council of Nicaea. After reading this, you may find a lot of the beliefs you hold true really originated with the pagans. But who cares, really? Faith is a personal thing between you and your god or gods. So, as was done in the past with the pagans and their beliefs, Christmas is now being changed as time goes on. To Christians, it still holds meaning to their belief in Jesus, but to nonbelievers, it represents time with family and friends.And I don't even have to get into the economic factor of the holiday. Either way, it is an important holiday for everyone. Why not be happy in what the holiday means to you personally, and be careful of adopting an intolerant view of the holiday thinking it is a Christian-only holiday. So with that said, I say to you, Ed and all my Christian friends, merry Christmas! And to all my non-Christian friends, happy holidays! And to all my pagan friends, happy winter solstice!