Secular elites have made remarkable, albeit perverse, progress not only in pushing God out of the nation's public schools, but also in muscling religion, including Christmas, out of the public square.

It's astounding how far secularists have gotten with that "separation of church and state" gambit which, incidentally, is the product of an activist U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Constitution doesn't mention it.

In recent years, secularists gave rise to a cultural political correctness that even got the national Christmas tree unofficially renamed the "Holiday Tree" - notwithstanding that Congress long ago officially proclaimed Christmas Day a national holiday.

Well, traditionalists are finally pushing back, foremost among them in Congress being U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. We were delighted at his politically incorrect move to make sure the huge spruce tree adorned with 10,000 lights and 5,000 ornaments displayed on the Capitol grounds is properly referred to as the Capitol Christmas Tree.

Hastert, who lighted the tree Dec. 8, wrote to architect Alan Hartman, "I strongly urge that we return to this tradition and join the White House, countless other public institutions and millions of American families in celebrating the holiday season with a Christmas tree."

Amen to that. It's encouraging to know there are some powerful people in Congress who still understand the reason for the season- and act on it. It's ludicrous to call a Christmas tree a Holiday Tree. That's not its name, any more than that it's a Ramadan tree.