The wrong kind of pluralism

The American Family Association has published this year's
"Naughty or Nice?" list. It measures which businesses
support, marginalize or censor Christmas by how often they use the word
"Christmas" in their advertising. Concerned Christians then know which
businesses to support and which to avoid.

The so-called Christmas wars have been keeping the love
of Christ out of Christmas for years now, with people on both sides neglecting to consider others' feelings. This hit home when my daughter came
home from kindergarten and asked for permission to attend her public school's
holiday party. It's a highly generic winter/Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa mash-up,
yet students must have parents' permission to attend.

My daughter was seriously worried that I might not let
her go and relieved when I told her she could. But seeing her anxiety made me
feel bad for the many Muslim mothers in the class who may have had to explain to
disappointed children that they couldn't attend the party because of their
faith. What does it do to a five-year-old's perception of his faith to be
forced to avoid a class party because of it?