Restricting the display of Christian Nativity scenes to private property is not, as David Wiskeman writes (“Fight loss of freedoms,” Dec. 16), a restriction on anyone’s freedom of religion. Rather, it is a reflection of the fact that freedom of religion means that the government (the nominal owner of public property) should have nothing to do with religion.

Placing Nativity scenes on taxpayer-funded government property amounts to government endorsement of religion and should not be permitted.

Meanwhile, Barbara Burch (“Respect for Christians,” Dec. 14) is wrong to equate the desire to remove references to religion from government buildings to the display of the American Flag on July 4.

These two phenomena are not commensurable; one is an official acknowledgment of a religion by government while the other is an official symbol of our government.

Moreover, Burch is wrong to claim Christmas as an exclusively Christian celebration.

Christmas only became Christian after the Catholic Church — in the 4th century — “re-calibrated” calendars to make the occasion of the birth of Jesus Christ coincide with a pre-existing pagan celebration. This usurpation and cannibalization of pagan holidays is characteristic of the Catholic Church’s attempts at domination of competing philosophies.

Christmas is essentially a secular holiday that has nothing to do with the birth of Christ.

In fact, in 200 A.D., Christ’s birth was celebrated on May 20.