Comments on Sea-Tac's War On Christmas

I think there should be a guerilla decorating team. Adding menorahs and trees and whatever else to sea tac.

ohh those Americans... relax..it's just a freakin' tree ;-)

The Rabbi is not a religious idiot. All he asked was that a menorah also be displayed. He was as appalled as anyone that Sea Tac chose the low road by removing the trees.

I never thought of the Christmas tree as a symbol for Christians since, I believe, that part of Christmas was stolen from the Pagans.

Dan, get the damn story straight. The alleged "religious idiot" did NOT ask for the trees to be taken down. He asked for a menorah to be set up along with the trees and he asked for it back in October. Port of Seattle officials then drug their feet on the request. When the rabbi threatened a lawsuit 2 days before Hanuka (remember, Seatac drug it's feet from October to December), Port of Seattle officials panicked.

Therefore, it wasn't the religious "idiot" who got the trees taken down, but incompetent Port of Seattle officials. The rabbi in question is reportedly "appalled" by the airport's reaction.

What did they drug their feet with?

the gun was jumped in slogging this story, but that's ok, it made sense. but now the angle that emerges is a slog favorite: blaming seattle! so run with it :)

those trees are "in" Anthony's, not Sea-Tac.

It's nice that the private businesses are able to offer symbol-deprived travelers a welcome respite from the airport's godless public spaces.

i think it's funny how the port thinks that a christmas tree called a holiday tree is a tree for any holiday other than christmas.

the rabbi did/does have a point. but, it's not his fault the port removed the trees instead of adding more decorations for the holiday season.

sometimes administrators are just bubling idiots.

Why can't people seem to figure this bullshit out? Mixed-religious families have been doing this forever. Even the culturally vacuous Fox hit "The O.C." has a "Chrismukkah" episode. There is nothing wrong with having a christmas tree AND a menorah. In fact, the Holidays of the World concept is a great idea - especially for an international airport.

I'm a godless heathen, but I don't mind the display of Christmas trees and menorahs. I think it is a nice change of scenery when people decorate for the holidays.

However, I'm siding with the port on this one. If someone threatened to sue me for displaying one fairy tale's symbol and not another's, I'd say fuck it and take them all down. What did the Rabbi expect by threatening to sue?!

The port should be spending their time preparing for the holiday rush, not acquiring a giant menorah or Quran or festivus pole or even enormous statue of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

The Rabbi didn't just make a request, he threatened to sue the airport. I'm sure the Port was just trying not to get sued by more groups after they put an 8-foot menorah up.

The Port made a dumb decision to drag their feet on the issue, but I'm sure they never imagined that anyone would really care. They're busy trying to get people on airplanes every day.

They should just do a neutral or multi-cultural display and leave it at that.

Think about it. if they entertain putting up a menorah for the jewesh faith, then they have to put up symbols for EVERY religious faith. EVERY one. Christianity, Islam, Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist, Hinduism, Chinese traditional religion, Buddhism, primal-indigenous, Afican Traditional & Diasporic, etc...
If someone causes a stink, now they have to accomodate EVERYONE. Why should they, not only, shoulder the budget for such creations, but clutter the entire airport with these things?
All people go Christmas shopping, not just Christians, they celebrate the commercialized Christmas, and that includes Christmas trees. I haven't seen a big rush around this time of year to get your Hanukkah shopping done. There is no commercialized Hanukkah, that is why places don't hang menorah's.

I know that everyone's made this point already, but please, update this post to point out that the rabbi wanted to add to the decorations, not remove them. Sea-Tac just didn't want to open the space up to additional groups, which is both stupid and lazy. I'd be pleased to have Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Divali, and other symbols go up at the appropriate times of year.

Way to go... one more step towards turning our country into the most bland in the world. Another country's administrators would laugh in your face if you asked them to "fix" something so trivial. This rabbi and his minions need a more worthy cause.

I think all christmas trees should be removed from public spaces, along with all of this light-jazzy pop craptastic xmas music.

Don't shove your holidays down my tubes, and I'll leave your tubes alone as well.

Question: Is Sea-Tac a true public agency falling under the separation of church and state clause. I think it is some kind of quasi public corporation - not a government agency. If so, most of these arguments are moot.

Personally I'm offended by displays of any and all organized religions, expecially those in Iowa and Iraq, Can I sue?

"All people go Christmas shopping, not just Christians"

Erm, so many things wrong with this!

a) This wasn't a shopping mall, it was an airport! What does Christmas shopping have to do with the airport? Indeed, I'm fine if we want to leave the Christmas decorations to the stores and leave them out of the government's hands!
b) "ALL" people do not go Christmas shopping. The fact that many non-Christans celebrate Christmas does not mean that ALL non-Christians do. Indeed, in my experience it's the non-religious folks who have soaked up the Christian culture of this nation and thus celebrate Christmas...the problem here is that not everyone is part of this culture! Maybe the Jews and Muslims and other folks are sick of it, and I think it's totally appropriate for them to raise the issue if they want to. Actually, I think it's great that the trees were taken down--there are plenty of living rooms, churches, stores, and other private property for trees. Why do we need to take over every tiny piece of government property too?

Jesus--the reason for the season. It's true, even if lots of people celebrate the holiday culturally rather than religiously. So we need to get over that and stop trying to make the government sponsor it! What would be so horrible about just having it be a less governmentally-sponsored holiday?!

Good-bye Easter Bunny, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day.
I agree Monday #14. Welcome to the Bland New World Order.

I hate christmas, but a decoration does not force someone to practice a religion. A public space should be able to decorate for a holiday season with out having to accommodate every religion. While Dan got his facts wrong - I still think this Rabbi is an idiot. There are more important issues to tackle and more important things for the airport to be concerned about. I for one am glad that my personal beliefs - like my belief in the stupidity of organized religion - does NOT dictate what goes on in public life.

Hey Westlake center officials, if you don't let me put up my Pentagram , you have to take down that christ(GET OUT OF ME!) tree. I'm gonna sue and I got a lawyer....his name is Keanu Reeves and he's good . Just ask my dad.

Seems to me Druids and Norse should have prior rights and be allowed to replace the pagan stars and baby Jesus figures with candles and mistletoe ...

WHO GIVES A SHIT.

OK, so I guess I'm the only one who felt the Port made the right decision?

If it was due to laziness, at least they admitted it.

If it wasn't due to laziness, they've possibly -- and I stress possibly -- deflected any anti-religious plots that might have flowered had the Port been more accepting of religious-based symbols -- not in the sense of extinguishing plots but bringing more attention and hence security to the airport this holiday season. Or at least, one would hope.

Oh yeah, the Bill O'Reillys of the country. lol-sters. They just make this issue absurd and funny, that's all.

Maybe they should lay off all the decorating, not just holiday or seasonal decorating. Quit wasting money and space on ugly tacky shit. Quit wasting the employees' time making them put the shit up and take it down. Work on getting people on airplanes faster and getting their baggage to the right destination. Who gives a shit what the terminal looks like, so long as the restrooms work and I can get to my plane without running an obstacle course?

What???,

You don't see people rushing out to do their Channukah shopping because Jews look just like everybody else at the fucking store. Capitalism influences Channukah just as much as Christmas. It has nothing to do with whether or not stores decorate with menorahs.

My SeaTac/airport Christmas wish: Open 10 more security lines and let us wear shoes and belts on the way through!

@25 - heck, when I was a kid, I remember some friends who would always be bored by all the socks and underwear in their 12 presents.

Now, if you got a Wii and 12 games/controllers/etc - now that's something!

Irony. I love irony so much. I say bring back the trees. Bring them back I say! I'm not offended, and also why don't they include other religions, too. I won't be affended, unlike the other closed minded people out there who are only focoused on spreading their religion. People need to be more tolurent.

Putting up all sorts of religious decorations for the holiday season would probably take up too much space and time (think of the paperwork) to be practical. I say let them put up trees without any decoration and let whoever wants their religion represented add their own ornament; a little menorah, a little manger, a little pentagram, whatever. A tree trimmed this way would help put all religions into perspective.

Why does everyone imagine that all other religions would want symbols put up in the Xmas season?

The Rabbi wanted a menorah because its hanukkah time.

You can put up Buddhist symbols for the Buddhist festivals, Moslem symbols for Ramadan, Hindu lamps for Diwalee, it would give the airport a nice atmosphere AND educate travellers about the customs of other religions.

Pulling down the trees is idiotic. The reason they gave for it is more idiotic still.

Since when is a tree a religious symbol? Why is this country so "sue happy"? What next, are we going to have to represent every religion of every country right here in the good ol' USA so no one gets a suit filed against them? It's rediculous, if you don't like it , don't look at it. Merry Christmas all. (Except the jews)