'Christmas' makes a comeback in public spaces

Who doesn't hanker for a return to a "real sense of Christmas" during the holiday season? Particularly after this year's Black Friday spree in which some shoppers walloped each other over discounted products.

Everyone, of course, has their own take on what that involves. Is it a happy, if rowdy, opening of presents on Christmas morning? A family tree-trimming tradition or favorite holiday concert? Perhaps it's a quiet pondering of the biblical Christmas story. Or a sharing of a meal with the less fortunate.

To some long distressed by the secularization of the holiday – and particularly by the disappearance of the word "Christmas" and its religious symbols from the public domain – there is reason for cheer in 2006.

Signs have appeared of a "return of Christmas" in the culture. Big-time retailers including Wal-Mart, Macy's, Target, and Kohl's have responded to demands to resurrect a "Merry Christmas" theme in their stores. More cities are approving the inclusion of nativity scenes in holiday displays on public property. And film studios are releasing movies with a genuine biblical theme.

"The Nativity Story," which opened in theaters across the US over the past weekend, represents more than a follow-on to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," says Ted Baehr, chair of the Christian Film and Television Commission.

"This is not a personal project, but a studio deciding to do a major movie very respectful of the faith, with both dramatic and theological quality," he says. "Like they used to do with 'Ben-Hur' and 'Quo Vadis.'" With studios now marketing to a variety of groups, he adds, the biggest group is probably churchgoers. Dr. Baehr sees more faith-related films in the works.

Yet the Christmas comeback goes beyond Hollywood.

"We're seeing a sensitivity that was not there before to the fact that removing the Christian aspects of Christmas is offensive to the majority of Americans," says Erik Stanley, chief attorney for the Liberty Counsel, a conservative group that has taken the cause to the courts when it deemed such action necessary.

Just recently, the legal group helped Robert Wortock, a citizen of Racine, Wis., get a nativity display on the city's Monument Square after officials previously rejected it. Traditional Christmas decorations had disappeared from the streets, and Mr. Wortock wanted to change that.

"This is a good example of how, in the last three years, we've seen a good return on this effort," says Mr. Stanley.

In recent years, several conservative Christian groups have claimed that a "war on Christmas" was being waged by secularists, and they marshaled their troops in response. The Liberty Counsel is in its fourth year of a "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign," pledging to be a friend to "entities which do not censor Christmas and a foe to those who do" – language that makes some Christians wince.

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