Fröhliche Weihnachten!

That's "Merry Christmas" in German. Fox 29 in Philadelphia reports that, in a triumph of common sense over "political correctness", Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter reversed a decision that would have forced the organizers of a German "Christmas Village" on city property to rename itself "Holiday Village" in an attempt to make it "more inclusive."

Anyone who knows anything about German culture knows that renaming Christmas to anything else in that context would make no sense whatsoever.

However, let's call it the way it is: "political correctness" when related to Christmas is simply an attempt to suppress freedom of cultural (let alone religious) expression for Christians. Philadelphia Managing Director Rich Negrin inadvertently acknowledged as much when he defended a related decision on Tuesday:

"This is not about taking Christmas out of the holiday. It's about being more inclusive," Negrin said. He went to add, "I am a preacher's kid. I love Christmas. This is not about political correctness or trying to say something negative about Christmas."

In an interesting side note, Negrin defended the city's decision to light its annual Tree on Thursday. (The city calls the tree a Holiday Tree and not a Christmas Tree.) The tree is OK, Negrin said, because it's "not a discreet* religious symbol. It's a pagan symbol."

Uh-huh. Point proven.

* The writer probably intended to use the word discrete.