Stoning Santa.

It may seem strange to be thinking about Christmas on this fiercely hot Florida Sunday, my neck red from spending yesterday on the water, my eyes stinging a bit from spending the morning in the pool, hiding in the air conditioned refuge of my office and reading blogs.

My usual reaction to the alleged Secular Liberal [ read Jewish] War on Christmas is Humbug, but my friend and colleague Abigail Esman writes at World Defense Review that things in Holland have gone a bit further than Wal-Mart greeters being asked to say Happy Holidays. The annual Christmas party held by the agency that runs Amsterdam's public transportation has been canceled because "a Christmas party is too one-sided" in a multi cultural society. It was never controversial in this famously tolerant city before the huge influx of Muslims who now seem to be agitating to legislate every thing from mandatory long sleeves and long pants for construction workers to preventing women from having to sit next to men on airplanes. Santa Claus, in his local manifestation has been literally stoned and chased out of Muslim neighborhoods in Holland.

Holland has often been a haven for those fleeing religious persecutions: Protestants, Puritans and Jews took refuge in the Netherlands. It seems more than sad that those taking refuge there today are willing to use violence and murder to end that tradition when it comes to others.

Of course the lesson I'm preaching this Sunday isn't about how awful Muslims are, but about how awful is the tyranny of religious power. Whether it's using tax money from Atheists to glorify plastic idols in the public square or building monuments to received instructions from Jewish Gods, standing up against legislating from the pulpit is standing up for freedom and indeed safety, for all.