The story I chose to read was Separation of Church and State: A War on Christmas and Other Misguided Notions by Melanie Springer Mock. The audience in this piece is Christians and other religious groups who are fighting to separate the state and church. The creator of this piece tries to appeal to these people by telling how she loves Christmas and remembers that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, yet she still does not see the need to fight about whether the government should display Christmas and all its decorating splendor even though she does not agree with it either. She see’s Christmas as a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus and not a time to fight about if the government should have the right to put of decorations. This rhetorical element that this article displays is ethos. Mock is repeatedly talks about her own Christian belief, which may criticize some other Christian. Using the history of other religions and ethos it helps make the article more effective. This article is effective because in the Mock gives examples of other religion’s history and personal examples of the church and state separation. Using the history of other religions and ethos it helps make the article more effective.


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