Culture Wars. Sometime in the mid-1990s, they had a big production on the Ohio State House grounds. I think that it was sponsored by downtown merchants who wanted to draw Christmas shoppers. The production was very elaborate. It had skaters including a giant skating candle. It taught a little message - something about self-esteem. For the finale they projected a moving train onto the State House with candles on the pillars. This was all very impressive.

After it was over I realized that they had not used the word "Christmas" once. After that I noticed that the Governor only talked about the "Winter Holiday". This was following the lead of the school system. Around a decade ago my daughter came home with a carol asserting, "Christmas and Hanukkah, just the same, both the Winter Holiday."

Columbus city government is following in this tradition. Here is the press release for this year's tree lighting:

Warm up your holiday season at the

City Hall Tree Lighting Ceremony

On Tuesday, December 7, Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, City Councilman Kevin Boyce and Recreation and Parks Executive Director Wayne A. Roberts will be joined by youth from the Kids In Government program to host Columbus' official holiday tree lighting ceremony at City Hall. The ceremony will take place on the South Plaza, starting at 5 p.m.

This year's honorary tree is a 40-foot Norway Spruce donated by Don Fritch who is a resident from the west side of Columbus. The tree is decorated with sparkling white lights, glistening garland, silver bells, dazzling stars, bright red bows and festive candy canes.

The annual tree lighting tradition will feature performances by the Columbus Children's Choir, the Glo-ettes dance troupe, and a special visit from Santa to make the festivities complete. Delicious holiday treats will be provided courtesy of Keebler and Starbucks Coffee.

Notice that it has become an "honorary tree"?

Things weren't always that way. In the 1960s, the state out a nativity scene on the State House grounds (later it moved to City Hall). Obviously this was going way past constitutional limits. When Nixon asked people to limit Christmas displays during the gas shortage of 1973, the State stopped decorating except for some red and green spotlights.

In the 1980s, cities still put on Christmas displays. The ACLU took some cities to court and the courts upheld the use of "Christmas" and even the inclusion of a small acknowledgement of the religious roots of the holiday.

What really spoiled things was the KKK. After Ohio allowed a menorah on the State House grounds, the KKK sued to be able to put up a cross. They won on the grounds that once you let a group put up a religious display you have to let anyone put up religious displays. Since then the State has banned any mention of any religion.

Sidebar: the state should have countered that a white cross with KKK slogans is not accepted by anyone as a religious object and therefore would be banned. There is also a long history of the KKK using crosses for non-religious messages. For some reason the State didn't pursue this argument.

So here we are.

However, even with Winter Holiday trees, it is possible to offend some people. In fact, the City of Lancing, Michigan managed to offend nearly everyone. They decorated their Winter Holiday tree with red, white, and blue lights. This offends the Christians who don't like mixing religion with patriotism, it offends the anti-Bush crowd because it implied supporting the President, and if offends at least some atheists because, no matter what they call it, it is a Christmas tree.

Then there is the Virgin Mobile Phone ad that refers to "Christmahanukwanzakah." This not only hits you over the head with the idea that all December holidays are the same, it rolls them into one for you.

I wonder how it is doing. If it offends me...