It seems every time we turn around during the holiday season all we hear about are lawsuits. What’s this world coming to? Actually, the problem of a litigation happy world has been around for quite some time. It’s almost like people have added the phrase “money from a lawsuit” to their Christmas list.

The latest controversy to hit the news revolved around Christmas trees at Seattle’s Sea Tac airport. The trees hung at various entrances to the airport and have been around for a number of years. But suddenly this year a Rabbi decided to file a lawsuit saying unless a Chanukah Menorah was placed alongside the Christmas trees at the airport he was going to sue. Instead of bowing down to the lawsuit, airport officials decided to simply remove all religious-themed decorations from the airport altogether!

(Now talk about a scene out of the new movie “Unaccompanied Minors.” In that movie there are no Christmas decorations, but it has nothing to do with lawsuits. Instead, a manager decided to take them down because they brought back painful memories of a Christmas divorce from his wife.)

Anyway, officials at Seattle Sea Tac took the decorations down, which of course caused quite a stir around the airport, and from travelers alike, who’ve become accustomed to seeing the decorations. The Rabbi, sensing sure defeat and probably suddenly realizing he was losing his news cycle, decided to withdraw the suit. The next day the Christmas trees went back up.

Making this whole situation even more interesting is something that happened prior to the disputes end. Dr. Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council said — “There’s been such an activism by the radical left against Christmas. The people are really scared. But, they need to know that even in 1989, the United States Supreme Court said that both Christmas trees and Menorahs were sufficiently secular, that they could be displayed in a public place.”

I find it amazing how quickly people forget things like that. But then again, these are probably the same people who think “separation of church and state” is a phrase in the Constitution. (Which, by the way, it is not.)

So, what do I want for Christmas? A people who know history and heritage well enough to understand that we are a nation founded on the principles of God and the Bible.

Keep encouraged!
Dr. Rus