The general guideline is that the government can’t favor any religion over any other. So they can allow nativity scenes, or Ten Commandments monuments, as long as they’re open to having other religious views represented.
The Texas Ten Commandments monument was allowed, however, on the basis that it had been there for a long time. I don’t see how that’s justification, but that decision was made. Fortunately that was an outlier of a case.
Certainly secular decoration are allowed- Santa, Frosty, Rudolph, green & red , etc.
I did read of the Ten Commandments being allowed as the Code of Hammurabi, etc was also displayed. Makes sense.
As noted in the post immediately above yours, you don’t always need Hammurabi’s Code (or something like).
Yes, I am sure there are other exceptions.
One easily overlooked nod to Catholicism is the large number of US Cities named after Catholic Saints. It’s hard for the city of San Francisco to not display a religious symbol when it’s very name is religious in nature. Or the city of Santa Clara (heart of Silicon Valley) whose flag and seal have an image of the Santa Clara Mission on it. Ditto for San Luis Obispo (except it’s a different mission building, and only on the seal).
Ironic, too, in a country that was largely anti-Catholic at it’s founding, but acquired lands previously settled by the French and Spanish, whose custom was to purposely use religious (Catholic) place names, and which legacy survives in myriad ways today.
The town in which I spent many of my formative years had 2 hospitals- both Catholic. Not only were they decorated for Christmas, but featured permanent displays of Crucifixes, statues and the like.
Most people in this country do not treat Christmas as a religious holiday. Seriously, who could get their undies in a bundle over a tree with lights and colored globes, and maybe popcorn or tinsel?
(Well, I’ve heard a couple of fundamentalists and a knee-jerk atheist act like it’s a Tree Personally Planted By Jesus, but not most people)
And, hey, Reindeer? Santa? Elves? Who’d object to those on religious (or anti-religious) grounds?
Oh, and don’t forget presents! Getting boxes and stockings full of stuff you don’t really need should transcend all ideologies.