Keeping Christ at Arm's Length in the Public Square

For any number of reasons, some Christians argue that we ought not to bring our religious beliefs into the public square (as if that statement were not in itself a religious belief). And yet God, in His providence over all things, has kept our nation singing, “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” and “He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found,” over the loudspeakers of shopping malls and public meeting places. In some ways, even the idolization of Santa is just filling the void left in a culture trying to keep Christ away from its need to celebrate, to be in awe of something transcendent, and to receive a gift it doesn’t deserve.