Steve Israel Quotes
I actually share her view and understand her frustration when any government attempts to ban secular symbols like Santa Claus or Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or Christmas lights.
Israel, Steve. "Public Statement." Official Website of Representative Steve Israel, U.S. House of Representatives.
Throughout the United Kingdom, there have been major traditional forces prohibiting the celebration of Christmas as a holy day or holiday. This carried over to America where Christmas was never a commonly celebrated day until modern times. The reason that this is important is when there were many legal battles of public schools and municipalities celebrating Christmas and exhibiting crèches and Christmas trees, several of the proponents argued the doctrine of originalism—namely that we should not declare unconstitutional anything that was common and accepted at the time of the Constitution’s writing, debating, and ratification. They argued that the First Amendment was not intended to cover celebrations of Christmas as the founding fathers would not have made unconstitutional that which was common. While the principle of originalism has advocates and critics, the originalism theory does not hold regarding Christmas because Christmas was not commonly celebrated in early America. In no state was Christmas a holiday, and there were jurisdictions that had actually outlawed the celebration of Christmas which was associated with Catholics and not all of them. See {629845}, {629843}, {629842}, {629844}, and {629845}.
This is the first state to make Christmas a legal holiday. The reason that this is important is when there were many legal battles of public schools and municipalities celebrating Christmas and exhibiting crèches and Christmas trees, several of the proponents argued the doctrine of originalism—namely that we should not declare unconstitutional anything that was common and accepted at the time of the Constitution’s writing, debating, and ratification. They argued that the First Amendment was not intended to cover celebrations of Christmas as the founding fathers would not have made unconstitutional that which was common. While the principle of originalism has advocates and critics, the originalism theory does not hold regarding Christmas because Christmas was not commonly celebrated in early America. See {629845} and {629843} for more evidence on this point.
This is a great example of politically sophisticated oratory. The decision was that the crèche violated the constitution and the state opinion was split between those in favor and those opposed. A reporter asked the governor what she thought of the court decision. Her response not only amused the public and the press but completely avoided having to take a stand on the issue of religious symbols being exhibited on state property.
Christmas was not celebrated in England universally until relatively modern times as in the United States. However for much of the history of England it was outlawed to celebrate Christmas. Generally, Catholics celebrated Christmas and Protestants opposed it. See {629839}, {629840}, {629847}, {629848}, {76420}.
This is a quotation which shows that Christmas was not a Christian Holiday that was commonly celebrated in early America. The reason that this is important is when there were many legal battles of public schools and municipalities celebrating Christmas and exhibiting crèches and Christmas trees, several of the proponents argued the doctrine of originalism—namely that we should not declare unconstitutional anything that was common and accepted at the time of the Constitution’s writing, debating, and ratification. They argued that the First Amendment was not intended to cover celebrations of Christmas as the founding fathers would not have made unconstitutional that which was common. While the principle of originalism has advocates and critics, the originalism theory does not hold regarding Christmas because Christmas was not commonly celebrated in early America. In no state was Christmas a holiday, and there were jurisdictions that had actually outlawed the celebration of Christmas which was associated with Catholics and not all of them. See {629845} for another.
Steven J. Israel is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New York from 2001 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected in New York's 2nd congressional district until 2013 and New York's 3rd congressional district until his retirement from Congress.
