Has anyone ever actually been offended when you've said "Merry Christmas?" Or have you just heard about that? Just curious.

That's not a religious observation but a cultural literacy observation; to understand Western society you need to know the Bible, among many other books, but especially that one. *I* know the Commandments but I'm neither Jewish nor Christian (and I have to say: Which version of the Commandments? there's more than one). Believing in it or agreeing with it is not, however, required to be a member of American society.

As to the teacher's larger points: He and I agree, consumerism is the societal religion; we point that out at TNH all the time. It is a sickness of American society.

We can all think of people we know who run the gamut both of religiosity and morality; neither is exclusive of the other. One does not have to be religious at all to strive to be a better person. But that striving is an individual choice. You cannot legislate personal behavior; people have a right to be vulgar, crude, disrespectful, impolite and generally asinine. We have freedom of speech to protect speech the rest of us may not like. That patently means that we're going to hear things we don't want to hear. People also, however, have the right to be polite, sophisticated, respectful and generally nice. It's up to the individual to make this choice, not the state.

Unless you're a lawmaker and quote scripture in the text of your measures, you can say anything you please. The entire point of the First Amendment is to allow you to quote scripture all you'd like. And *you* get to pick the scripture, not the state.

Please remember that the wall between church and state protects the church just as much--if not MORE than--the state.