Saturday, December 11, 2004

America's suppressed secular history

My my, wonder how Scalia and his professed "strict constructionist" beliefs will square with the fact that America was far more secular in certain respects back in the horse and buggy days than it is today?

Eschaton has the goods: "...Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings.... In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America's new constitution. Christmas wasn't declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870."