This is not about political correctness. It's about separation of church and state.

Maplewood High School is a public school. The school, and, presumably, their brass band, is supported by the taxpayers of Maplewood.

Having Christmas music selected for them by the faculty member in charge, practicing that Christmas music on school time and on school grounds, and playing that music at a school concert can give the impression that the "state" is putting their seal of approval on that religion and what that religion represents.

I have no problem at all with the act of playing the Christmas music. I think any non-Christian band member who would be offended by playing it, or any non-Christian parent who would be offended by listening to it, is an idiot.

What I do have a problem with is the "concept" of mixing religious symbolism and public education.

It is not "censorship", as student Ryan Dahn suggests. Censorship would be if the band decided to practice off school grounds and hold a concert off school grounds, and the school told them they couldn't, which, IMO, would be wrong.

Christmas Carols, when you get right down to it, are religious in nature. They celebrate a religious holiday. In the crass commecialism that has become our "Holiday Season", people tend to forget that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe to be the son of God and our savior.

Anything that celebrates a particular religion has no place in a public school, even if all of the students are Christians. It's a clear violation of the priciple of separation of church and state, as specified in the U.S. Constitution.

If parents want Christmas Carols, Nativity Scenes, Menorahs, and the like in their kid's school, they should send them to a parochial school.

As far as Macy's goes, that's an entirely different matter.

They are a completely private institution, and they are free to mix as much religious symbolism into their corporate identity as they wish.

And personally, I think that the groups who are pressuring Macy's to remove a "Merry Christmas" sign, although they have the right to do so, are a bit ridiculous. Macy's is exercising their right of free expression, and besides, they are doing nothing more than wishing a happy holiday to their Christian customers and employees.

If you don't like Macy's message, you are perfectly free to not shop there. And if Macy's wishes intentionally to alienate their non-Christian customers, and cater to a strictly Christian clientele (I'm not, of course, suggesting that this is the case), they have a perfect right to do so.

Removing a "Merry Christmas" sign is a foolish decision on Macy's part, I think. By doing so, they run a greater risk of offending their Christian customers, who are probably in the majority.