I just finished reading a post by Steven Waldman over at Huffington Post, The Church-State Divide: Religious Folks Have to Choose, and I am a little frustrated. HE begins by discussing a de-Goding of Christmas.

Hmmm. Maybe the conservative Christians really are right about secularism run amok, I thought. And what about all those stories about kids being told not to read the bible in cafeterias?

So I thought great but then he went on to talk about all of the breaks that religious institutions receive, according to a New York Times article. Waldman said that the exceptions shown to religious group didn’t bother him.

But at a minimum, supporters of religion having a special place can’t have it both ways: we cant take special tax breaks, zoning rules and exemptions and then claim we’re discriminated against. Religious folks will have to choose between the tax breaks and the persecution complex.

This is what I find frustrating. Giving my church freedoms isn’t the same as giving it to me. The Bill of Rights were not rights for institutions but individuals. Why can’t I have freedom of speech that includes the name of God? The reason groups like the Christian Coalition exist is to look at our personal rights more than the church buildings. The lawsuits that have had to be filed (and won years ago) to get Christian student groups in schools are the type of battles Christians are really talking about when it comes to secularism. People on the left need not be so obtuse as to see the issue we are really discussing. It is the kid’s Christmas Program…