Grinch. Scrooge. These were the labels affixed to school administrators in New Jersey this year when they decided to ban religious Christmas music in the holiday concert lineup - an effort to maintain steadfast separation of church and state.

In Denver a group of faithful decided to push in the other direction, fighting back against what they see as a growing secularization of Christmas. After a religious-themed float was banned from an annual parade, they joined forces to belt out carols (the kind about mangers, not mistletoe), as the "Parade of Lights" passed them by.

Across the country, a battle for the soul of the public square is being waged this holiday season. The question: Has the quest for inclusiveness gone so far down the road of sensitivity that children might be forgiven for not knowing what holiday many Americans will celebrate on Dec. 25?

People's answers depend largely on their position on the nation's liberal-conservative axis, but the debate goes beyond politics to emotions such as fond memories of singing carols or the awkwardness many non-Christians have felt at this season.

The battle isn't new, but experts say it's been intensifying this year. The growing diversity of the population has played a part. An even bigger factor: the red-blue political divide fueled by election campaigns.

"A good many conservative Christians have been emboldened in the last few years to try again ... to avail themselves of expressing their faith in public schools," says Charles Haynes, an expert on the debate over religion in the schools at the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va. "In the larger culture war over just how Christian a nation we are supposed to be, the school is a key battleground."

Lynn Mistretta is one mother who has taken up arms. She found Christmas to be taboo in Scarborough, Maine., where she and her family moved five years ago. And it wasn't just Christmas. She learned that her son's class wouldn't be dressing up for Halloween. Then Valentine's Day was renamed Friendship Day. The last straw came when her 9-year-old returned home from school one day: He said he felt uncomfortable wishing his classmates a "Merry Christmas."

"Our children are feeling really repressed, they are intimidated about saying 'Merry Christmas,'" says Ms. Mistretta. "Does anyone think this is what James Madison meant?"

This fall Mistretta and another mother, Lisa Lowry, began attending board meetings and talking to principals, parents, and the superintendent. They set up a website, www.bringbackchristmas.org. They say support has been overwhelmingly in their favor, so far.

For years, public schools across the country organized carol sings and "Secret Santa" gift exchanges, sometimes to the dismay of Jewish or Muslim students. City halls did not shy away from "decking their halls" as Dec. 25 inched closer. But after years of lawsuits that caused schools and local governments to pull back from such celebration, critics say the result has been a commercialization of the holiday season that overshadows both faith and culture.

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