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Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa. It's all good. Credit: Corbis / Getty Images

Each and every December, the perennial complaint is aired by a handful of devoutly religious groups and commentators that there is a movement afoot to somehow "secularize" the holiday season or to "censor" Christmas.

Some groups even use the holidays as an annual rallying cry against what they perceive as an out-and-out assault against Christianity, pointing to store clerks who might substitute "Happy Holidays" for "Merry Christmas" or school holiday assemblies that may lack religious content as part of a wider movement to secularize the country and undermine people of faith.

They almost uniformly point an accusatory finger at organizations that work toward ensuring the separation of church and state in schools and in government. They accuse these groups of being "the Grinch" and, worse, of trying to undermine the religious fabric of our society.

These charges make for good sound bites, but they are hurtful, damaging and fundamentally untrue. They show a profound misunderstanding of "the December Dilemma" -- the seasonal need to ensure that the December holidays are inclusive to all, regardless of religious identity, faith or affiliation.

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]]>Deborah M. LauterFri, 11 Dec 2009 17:31:00 EST