Put the trees back

Ho, ho, ho. Every year, someone challenges a public entity for having the audacity to say Merry Christmas, or to use a Christmas — er, holiday — tree in a public space. Almost every year, the organization takes the politically correct route and backs down. It's easier to switch than fight.

Seattle Port commissioners have a chance to stop an unnecessary overreaction at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where 14 trees were taken down following a complaint by a local rabbi. He wanted a menorah installed as well. The Port should restore the trees post haste, if it hasn't done so already. The trees are a symbol of winter, the holidays and a special time of year for people of all faiths. The trees, which have festooned the airport at least 10 years without incident, were not located in a nativity scene or in any specific religious context. They were decorated with ribbons and lights. A menorah can be included as well.

This is Seattle, and the rule is never offend anyone, even if the offense is as benign as wishing passersby Happy Holidays. Sheesh.

There are ways to seek inclusion. A threat to march into federal court is not the smoothest method of getting one's way. Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky expressed shock at the reaction to his request for a menorah. But if a person wishes to challenge something quietly and adroitly, a threat to go to court is not the best way to keep the volume down.

Both sides blew it. There was no need to yell lawsuit, no need to remove the trees. The Port can spend time the next 12 months to create a committee, include Bogomilsky, and draft a more-sweeping policy for next holiday season. For now, put the trees up and include a menorah of the airport's choosing, not Bogomilsky's.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1989 ruled Christmas trees and menorahs were sufficiently secular that they could be displayed in a government building without it constituting an endorsement of a particular religion.

The court got it right. The airport and the Port commissioners need not be so politically correct and uptight that they can't allow a few cheerful trees to brighten the darkest days of the year.