Secular Holiday Greetings Return to Chicago Area Public Forums

The Freedom From Religion Foundation Metropolitan Chicago Chapter is now in its 13th year of erecting secular holiday displays for its national organization, the Madison, WI based Freedom From Religion Foundation, to counter religious imagery on government property in three separate cities, including Chicago and two northern suburbs. These displays, representing the non-theist point-of-view, are intended to remind everyone about the fact that the festive season each December has important reasons for celebration that have nothing to do with religious myth and superstition.

The entire foundation of Yuletide goes back centuries before the creation of Christianity, with Northern Europeans recognizing the significance of the astronomical cycles of shorter days becoming longer days. And with that, the return of fertile life in the northern hemisphere, which goes dormant during the dark days of winter, and had made survival a harsh reality for people thousands of years ago.

The Winter Solstice, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti in Latin, meaning the “Birthday of the Unconquered Sun,” is a time to remember that the sun will return, bringing life, and agricultural food, back with it. Early pagan cultures honored this celestial event with festivals of light, gift exchanges, gatherings with food, drink, and decorations including pine trees and sprigs, mistletoe, and red holly berries. It was also customary to burn the Yule (Jul) log as a warming welcome.

December 15th also brings another birthday. The ratification of the U.S. Bill of Rights, which was passed in 1791, gives us the freedom to exercise our religious beliefs of any or no tradition, and also the right to dissent from those beliefs.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, as part of their mission, educates the public in all matters relating to non-theism. These annual secular holiday displays are a part of this education, and also a reminder that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution called for taxpayer property to be free of religious influence, and should remain neutral by not giving preference to one religion over another, or to religion over non-religion.

Our secular holiday displays were once again erected at Chicago’s Daley Center Plaza, North School Park in Arlington Heights, IL, and the the Village of Glenview, IL City Hall. All of which have, for many years, allowed the placement of private, unattended religious displays on government property during the month of December, such as Christian nativity scenes and “Keep Christ in Christmas” signs, as well as Jewish menorahs. At the forefront in most of the FFRF displays is an image of our “Bill of Rights Nativity,” created by artist Jacob Fortin. This image includes founding fathers Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington, standing alongside the Statue of Liberty, and looking down reverently at a copy of the Bill of Rights in a manger bed.

Seasons Greetings & Happy New Year from the Freedom From Religion Foundation Metropolitan Chicago Chapter!!

“A” is for Atheism!