One cannot escape the fact that there is, in the United States, a war on Christmas. This holiday, filled with traditions that have grown over hundreds of years, is coming under fire. It is a holiday so shining on the calendar that it earns time off for most – and none would want to relinquish that time off. It is a holiday so steeped in nostalgia that a huge majority wants to celebrate it – and none would want to be denied that privilege. Its traditions bring in most of the retailers’ annual sales – and none of them would like to cut that income.
Yet, a handful of rebels irrationally want to strip Christmas of every semblance of what it is, and what it long has been. They want to peel away all tradition that has meaning, and leave a wimp-ish “holiday” so that non-Christians won’t risk being offended.
Now, I don’t know about you, but over the years, living in the USA, Japan, and New Zealand, I never met a non-Christian who was offended by Christmas. Some preferred a celebration without church or the mention of Christ. Some celebrated other holidays instead of Christmas. But no one was the least bit offended when I said, “Merry Christmas.” They all returned the greeting, gave me a “non-offended” smile, and went on their merry way.
Those people never knew that they needed politically-correct liberal activists, politicians, teachers, and media personnel to go to war in their behalf – to attack Christmas.
When I began public school teaching in Illinois, we never dreamed that in 2005 our state, Illinois, would forbid state government workers even to utter the words “Merry Christmas” while at work.
When I taught in New England for two years, it never crossed our minds that in 2005, local officials in a New England state would ban all Christians from participation in a “public” project to decorate City Hall’s lawn.
When I taught in New Jersey a few years later, schools would have voted overwhelmingly against the 2005 decision made by one New Jersey school: a decision that banned not only vocal Christmas carols, but all instrumental renditions as well.
Finally, when we moved to Arizona in 2001, we never suspected that school officials in that state, where four out of five people are self-described Christians, would ever rule as they did in 2005, making it unconstitutional for a student doing a class project to refer to the religious history of Christmas.
This war on Christmas reveals a lack of character on the part of its perpetrators. Their war cry of “tolerance” never reaches their actions. Tolerance is, to them, something one plucks from a list of character traits only to advance one’s cause. It is a war club to use on the heads of opponents. Never mind the fact that 95% of the population wants to celebrate a normal, traditional Christmas. This handful of rebels has no tolerance for that 95%. They will be satisfied only when the majority tolerates the minority’s holiday choice AND embraces that choice in place of their own! In other words, those who make war on Christmas seek a regime change – and the regime they choose is a regime of intolerance. The war reveals this lack of character.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?