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Years ago, the Supreme Court distinguished between secular Christmas symbols (among which they included a Christmas tree) versus religious symbols (which they pointed to as a Nativity scene depicting the Holy Family).
As a national holiday, they ruled it fine to put up a secular Christmas symbol, but not a religious one, on any public land.
I think there's a pretty good case that the Menorah is equivalent to a national symbol among Jewish people. You'll find it on the state seal of modern Israel, on the building of their national legislature, etc. I haven't followed the recent court cases in the U.S. but my guess is the Hassidim have won that battle in court, as public Menorahs are all over the place on public land in NYC and nationwide, with nobody arrested. (Grand Army Plaza, for example).
So, disregarding your thread title, your real complaint is with aggressive shout-outs by individuals promoting their faith. Unless you want to also silence all the guys shouting for Jesus and handing out literature in public subway stations and sidewalks, I think you'll have to just put up with noisy Hassidim.
Last edited by BrightRabbit; 12-25-2014 at 09:48 AM..
That's because the word Hanukkah doesn't contain the word christ. It is the reference to christ that some people are offended by and find objectionable.
first world problem. who knew some NYers had such thin skin?
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