O'REILLY: Godless in Seattle

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By Bill O'Reilly

COMMENTARY:

Just in time for the Christmas season, Washington StateGov. Christine Gregoire has insulted Christians all over the world. Inside the state Capitol building in Olympia a traditional holiday display features a tree and the Nativity scene - perfectly appropriate since the federal and state Christmas holiday celebrates the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

But this year Mrs. Gregoire decided to add another item to the display. Standing alongside the baby Jesus is a giant placard designed by atheists that reads: "There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds." You read that correctly. The governor of Washington State has permitted an attack on religion to be displayed in her office building as part of a Christmas presentation.

Even the producers of "The Twilight Zone" would have rejected this script as too far-fetched. Mrs. Gregoire's behavior is offensive, insulting to all people of faith and totally incomprehensible - unless you know what's going on in Washington State.

Seattle now rivals San Francisco for secular-progressive nuttiness. The city fathers allow public nakedness in city parks and nude bike riding. In Fremont, a Seattle suburb, they actually put up a statue honoring Vladimir Lenin, the father of communism. Some on the Seattle school board actually supported denigrating Thanksgiving by teaching children about the atrocities against Native Americans by the Pilgrims.

In addition, Washington State voters have passed assisted-suicide legislation, and the state gives out free birth control pills, including the "morning after pill."

On the quality-of-life front, the streets of Seattle are full of homeless people, but they don't have to be out in the rain. The city will pay to house alcoholics and drug addicts if they want it. They can actually get free furnished apartments. Taxpayers, of course, pick up the tab.

Outside the Seattle area, Washington State is fairly conservative. But the big-city population base rules, and far-left zealots are running wild. However, they may have overstepped on this Christmas deal.

I believe most Americans, even those living in the far-left enclaves, respect uplifting traditions like Christmas, where peace and love is the theme. Calling religion "enslaving" doesn't exactly fit into the peace and love scenario, does it? Can't we all just get along for a few weeks in December?

The answer is no. Not in Washington State, where the governor believes a few nuts have a legal right to run down the Christmas tradition in the lobby of the Capitol building. At this point there is little left to say except this: Where are the wise men when you need them?

Bill O'Reilly is a nationally syndicated columnist and host of the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor."