John Block Reports from Washington

"Merry Christmas" or should I say, "Happy Holidays." Of course, it's more natural for me to say "Merry Christmas." After all we're celebrating the birth of Christ. But some people of different faiths don't celebrate Christmas. When I grew up there was no debate. We had our Christmas tree, exchanged presents, went to church and sang Christmas Carols. In our little one-room country school, we sang "Away in a Manger" and "Silent Night." A children's play with baby Jesus in a manger was perfectly natural for our Christmas pageant.

Almost without notice, the extreme advocates of separation of church and state have chipped away at the role of faith in anything close to government. We have seen law suits demanding that "In God We Trust" be erased from the quarter that I hold in my hand right now. Take "Under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm happy to report that the U.S. Congress still opens their sessions with a prayer. But I wonder how long they will be allowed to do that.

Some critics are attacking college ball teams for praying before the game. I don't think they are praying to God to help them beat their opponents. They pray for freedom from injury and a fair contest.

The whole dispute is about someone claiming that they are offended by the display of faith -especially Christian faith.

We should remember that our founding fathers relied on expressions of faith far more than we do today. They built a pretty great country.

Let's stop the fighting and live and let live.

I realize that times change and we're not going back to the days of the one-room school Christmas, but I believe we have gone too far, and hopefully we can move back a little toward the traditional.

Until next week, I am John Block from Washington.