Three days of hanging out on the couch, and I am still tired. Three days of sitting in my Sugarland T-shirt, reading books and watching brain-cell-losing Television, and I feel as if I could rest at least another week or two. I am thinking that heavy yard work followed by long hours leading up to a late night benefit concert should not happen in the future.

I confess that some of the television I watch while sitting in my house alone is NASCAR. Sunday's race was not just one I came across by channel surfing. It was a deliberate viewing.

I must say, that I was rather taken aback when the race started with a prayer, the pledge of allegiance, bagpipes playing of "Amazing Grace," singing "God Bless America," and the singing of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

Oh, my goodness! I mean, really, these racing folk obviously have no fear of the ACLU. They actually invoked God's name on national television! They played a hymn, an audacious move even if the lyrics were not sung. I actually sat back in absolute disbelief.

I guess I become accustomed to how much Christianity is vilified in our country. It is okay, socially, to be spiritual, but not religious...not if that religion happens to be Christianity. I have not yet figured out how someone is spiritual but does not believe in God, but that seems to be the most accepted stance.

What I do know is that it is not okay to believe in Truth. It is not okay to believe in absolutes. It is not okay to believe in anything "black and white." Grey is all that is acceptable. Tolerance is king. Religion must be inclusionary to the exclusion of any teaching of right and wrong. Holding people accountable to godly living is now seen as discriminatory.

I believe in just one God. I believe that salvation comes through Jesus Christ. I believe in sin, in right and wrong. I believe in absolutes. I believe in Truth.

I do not expect you to believe as I do. You have every right to believe what you choose. I would just wish that right for myself. For example, I believe that God does not desire us to engage in sexual relations outside of marriage. One of my dear friends does. She has found a most wonderful man who has brought unconditional love and acceptance in her life. After an abusive marriage, she is now learning what it is like to be truly cherished. She enjoys an intimacy that she has never known. I am happy for that love in her life, even though I would make different choices in a dating relationship. I do not judge her. She does judge me. That is how it should be. Operative word there...should.

For a country that was founded on freedom of religion--even though it established on stolen land and built in part on the backs of slaves--I no longer feel that I have true freedom to believe without judgment and persecution...though the latter is primarily the form of public condemnation, oppression for holding or expressing a belief, when that belief happens to be in the teachings of Jesus Christ certainly exists in this country.

Christmas is a perfect example. You can publicly celebrate Kwanza or Hanukkah, but not Christmas. You can celebrate Ramadan or Rosh Shanah, but not Christmas. Not publicly.

As a result of this prevailing attitude and of the growing materialism of our culture, Christmas has become merely presents and food. Easter is chocolate and bunnies.

For that matter, jokes about Christians, especially "fundamentalists" or the "religious right," are fodder for late night television while a joke about a Jew or a Muslim is enough to get a person fired.

This saddens me.

I am not a joke. My faith is not funny. Christmas, while not the exact date of my Savior's birth, is a sacred and holy day of reflection and celebration of both the incredible gift of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and our own need of salvation.

I admit that while I would rather a cross hung on my office wall, a bible sat on the corner of my desk, and scripture serve as my screen saver, I am hesitant to have any of the former for the fact that I could easily see being told that my outward expressions of faith were oppressive to another co-worker. I have worn a cross nearly every day since I became a Christian. I also talk about my faith and what Christ has done in my life to Christians and non-Christians alike. But I am fairly sure I could not be sued for either of those. I can, however, easily see an ACLU lawyer taking a bible on my desk to be an egregious act against my co-workers or supervisees with a zeal I find frightening for what it really means.

So, in a country were people are fighting to take God out of our pledge and off our money and prayer out of our schools--even prayer so innocuous as a moment of silence--it was a pleasant and most welcome surprise to watch on public television a passel of folk who had absolutely no problem citing the name of God, not once but four times, with no protesters and no lawyers hovering in wait.