Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't...

This week's question:Christmas decorations at the White House include a crèche in the East Room (despite reports that White House social secretary Desirée Rogers suggested that the Obamas were planning a "non-religious Christmas.") Should the White House, whose residents serve all Americans, display a crèche or a menorah or any strictly religious symbols during the holidays?

The President may as well follow his heart and his conscience on this one. He will not be able to please us all. Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t.

The Obamas are a devoutly Christian family. President Obama may serve “all Americans” in a public and professional sense, but as a Christian, he serves God first. As a Christian leader, I would be sadly disappointed if he felt compelled to “hide” his faith “under a bushel”. I would be disappointed if any governmental leader felt that pressure, whether they were of the Christian faith or not.

But that isn’t the main issue here.

“A man’s home is his castle”. If that old saying is correct, then isn’t it also true that America’s “castle”- The White House- is also a home? As such, The White House reflects not only the values of the people, but also of the family who lives there.

Is it his home or isn’t it? I’ve wondered the same thing about my own home from time to time, which, for the past twelve years has been in a church-owned parsonage. We have refrained from posting political signs in our yard, so that there can never be a question of the church’s tax-exempt status. However, anyone who was entertained in our home in the months before the last presidential election would have seen a political bumper sticker attached by a magnet to our refrigerator.

I make no apologies. It’s our home. The White House is a home, too.

The White House may belong to the people of this country, in a figurative sense, but it is not our “home”. Our president and his or her family have a right to choose which, if any, religious beliefs are to be represented in their home. If they are going to be criticized either way (and likely they will), they should be true to their faith.