Councilwoman quits over 'Christmas' tree lighting

[oberliner]

43. Councilwoman Storey Provides Insight Into Decision To Resign

Here's her statement on this:

I am issuing this statement because I want to be clear about why I am leaving the Borough Council.

I submitted my letter of resignation today on a matter of conscience and principle. The Mayor and a majority of the Council chose last night to adopt a resolution that cuts non-Christians out of the loop on a public event in Roselle Park. This violates the oath we all took to uphold the Constitutions of the U.S. and New Jersey, which forbid government to get involved in religion.

Yes, Christmas is a cultural holiday as well as a religious one. And I like Christmas trees and the happy spirit that usually pervades this season.

But the Mayor proposed, and most of Council voted, to change a key word in the name of the Borough’s annual tree-lighting event from a neutral, inclusive term back to a religious one.

Had the name of this event never been changed to use a non-religious term, had it stayed with “Christmas” instead of being changed to “Holiday,” I could have accepted it as a cultural term. But to change it from a neutral term back to a religious one was clearly meant to put religion back into the public event. And to underscore religious division at this time in the nation and world is, to me, as wrong as wrong can be.

This isn’t a minor matter of “political correctness.” It is a fundamental issue of freedom of religion – one of the basic freedoms that tens of thousands of Americans, including my uncle, died to defend over the years.

This is also an issue of including people rather than excluding them. To quote U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, government action endorsing religion “sends a message to nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community.”

All four members of the Council who voted for this are male, white, Catholic and members of the Knights of Columbus, a religious organization that every year posts a large sign urging, “Keep Christ in Christmas.” So I find it hard to accept that to them, a “Christmas” tree is a secular tree.

To be clear, I have no problem with the church putting up that sign. It’s a Catholic church. That’s what it does. But we’re talking about what a municipality does for an event funded and for the community. All the community.

I am a non-Christian and a non-believer. My husband and I are Humanists, as I’ve pointed out in campaign literature and in my bio on the Borough’s website. We believe it’s our duty to do good in this life as a matter of principle, not as a religious obligation.

There are also many other philosophies and religions outside of Christianity, and a growing number of Americans profess “none” when asked by pollsters what their religion is. Roselle Park is a diverse Borough. In fact, according to City-Data, “nones” make up 33.8 percent of the Roselle Park population – more than a third! And since the number of “nones” increases as you look at younger groups, that figure is only likely to increase.

And that 33.8 percent doesn’t include non-Christians such as Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims.

Changing the name – and I emphasize “changing” – clearly disrespects them all and hijacks the tree lighting for one religion.

The Mayor’s introduction of the Christmas resolution last night came as a surprise to me. He and I had discussed the issue briefly several days before the Council meeting, and I had told him of my opposition. I had only begun to gather information on the issue, such as the fact that every municipality in this area calls it a “tree lighting” or “holiday tree lighting.” It was my understanding that the Council would consider the issue next year, not last night. It was not listed on the meeting’s Agenda, despite the Mayor’s insistence that the Agenda should be set two days before each meeting.

I’m sorry to leave the Council. I have enjoyed serving the Borough, and I’ve worked hard at it. But I believe the Council’s action on Christmas was unconstitutional and exclusionary, and, as a matter of principle, I don’t want to be part of it.

http://www.roselleparknews.org/councilwoman-storey-provides-insight-into-decision-to-resign/