Pass Ed's Living Textbook
Free Lesson Plans for Teachers
Alpha Stage






The Seattle Times is running a story entitled “Airport’s Trees Stoking
War on Christmas.”

The article begins, “The departure of Christmas tree displays at Seattle-
Tacoma International Airport — the Port of Seattle's response to a
local rabbi's insistence that an electric menorah also be put up — is
accelerating into an international spectacle in the so-called ‘war on
Christmas.’”

Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky has said that he did not want the airport to
take down the Christmas Tree. He simply asked to put up a Menorah,
as well.
Read the article!!


Discussion Starters for Younger Children

  • Ask your students what they are doing over winter vacation.
    Will they observe any holidays? Which ones?

  • Do your students know why the different winter holidays are
    celebrated? The stories behind them are fun to hear. You can
    Click Here for a resource on the meaning behind different
    holidays.

  • Ask your students if they know anybody who celebrates a
    holiday different than their own. Who do they know? What
    holiday do they celebrate?
  • You might make a list of the different holidays that the
    students in your class celebrate.  Students could draw a
    picture or write a story about either the way that their
    family celebrates a winter holiday or enjoys winter
    vacation.

Discussion-Starters for Older Children

  • Vocabulary Terms to Discuss: Spectacle;
    Secular/Secularization; Diversity; and, Symbol.

  • What does it mean for a place to be a “public place?” Should
    people behave differently in public than they would in private?
    Why/why not?

  • The First Amendment of the United States Constitution states,
    in part, “Congress shall make no law respecting an
    establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
    thereof.” Ask your students to explain what this clause says in
    their own words?

  • Pose: Imagine that a judge asked you to explain what this
    clause should mean to people today. What would you say.
    Should governments be allowed to put religious symbols in
    public places? Why/why not? If so, under what conditions?
  • Students could answer either of the previous questions
    in quick writes before considering them as a class.

  • The commission of the Seattle-Tacoma Airport decided to
    remove the Christmas tree, according to the article. Ask if they
    did the right thing. Encourage your students to defend both
    sides.
  • The previous question might serve as a prompt for an
    argumentative essay.

  • Pose: Imagine that you were a member of the airport
    commission. How would you have responded after the rabbi
    asked for a Menorah to be put on display? Why?
  • You might turn your class into a mock "commission
    meeting" and have your students decide together how to
    respond. Remember that large groups often make
    decisions by making compromises.
Religious Symbols
December 11, 2006
Google