Well it’s that time of year again where chestnuts are roasting on an open fire, Jack frost is nipping at our nose and the lawyers are heading to court to remove any sign of Christmas from society.
With lawsuits in New York and an uproar in Chicago’s Daley Plaza, the War on Christmas is going on full-force. This year, they didn’t even wait until December. As soon as Thanksgiving was over the suits started flying from both sides.
An Arizona based legal group called the Alliance Defense Fund is riled up about what’s been happening to Christmas over the years. They’ve lined up 930 attorneys nationwide to challenge the improper attempts to censor the holiday.
The Thomas More Law Center filed a lawsuit in 2002 that now has reached the Supreme Court. The lawsuit alleges that the New York City public schools’ holiday display policy discriminates against Christianity.
The suit says that the policy “unlawfully discriminates against Christians because it prohibits the display of the nativity scenes in public schools but permits and encourages the display of the Jewish Menorah and the Islamic star and crescent during certain holidays.”
The policy says that only secular holiday symbols can be displayed. But, for some reason, the menorah and the crescent are allowed.
Although they are very religious symbols, New York City gave them a seal of approval under the guise of promoting understanding and respect for the beliefs and customs of their community.
Apparently, Christians don’t deserve respect or understanding in New York City.
Then comes another great city: Chicago. Mayor Richard Daley made a decision to discourage the producers of the film “The Nativity Story” from sponsoring a downtown Christmas festival.He said that such an event might offend people of other faiths and that the clips would introduce too much commercialism to the occasion.
Daley seems to forget the Christmas festival is a month-long open market with booths for people to come and buy gifts for their loved ones. Commercialism is already part of the occasion.
The irony is that Chicago is the only city out of 25 to turn down New Line Cinema’s promotion of the movie. It seems that other cities have no problem with the new filmChristmas is on the Politically Correct hit list and every aspect of the holiday is coming under attack. It’s come to the point where just saying “Merry Christmas” can land someone in court.
“It’s ridiculous that Americans have to think twice about whether its’ OK to say Merry Christmas,” said ADF spokesman Alan Sears in a press release. “Thanks to the American Civil Liberties Union and its allies, Christmas isn’t what it used to be. It’s time to repair the damage that such organizations have done.”
For the last few years, public schools have referred to Christmas vacation as “winter break.” More and more companies and retail stories have dictated that their employees must say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”But some in the mainstream media are fighting back. Bill O’Reilly of Fox News got the ball rolling last year when he did piece called “Taking The Christ out of Christmas.”
Another Fox News commentator, John Gibson, published a book called “The War on Christmas” which criticizes politically correct attempts to censor the American holiday.Through the 2005 Christmas season, O’Reilly and Gibson took turns taking shots at the anti-Christmas Grinches.
But O’Reilly and Gibson are not Christian extremists who are out of touch with mainstream society. Most Americans agree with them that the censoring of Christmas has gone too far.
A Washington Times survey showed that 69 percent of Americans prefer the traditional “Merry Christmas” greeting over the generic “Happy Holidays,” which was favored by only 23 percent of those surveyed. So why do the Mayor of Chicago and other politicians go against the majority view of Americans?To their credit, Wal-mart, Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s and other retailers who had originally banned their employees from saying “Merry Christmas” last year have now changed their tone after customer complaints.
What’s at the core of these lawsuits and bans is a desire to protect the supposedly constitutional rights of non-Christians to not have to be bothered with Christmas. We bend over backwards to make sure they’re not “offended” but ignore the rights of those that who want to celebrate Christmas.
What’s even worse is that many who believe in our traditional values, like celebrating Christmas, are willing to just to sit there and smile as our rights are taken away. If we continue to sit by and do nothing, eventually, Americans won’t be allowed to celebrate Christmas anywhere in public.
But don’t think that this politically correct madness couldn’t happen here at De Anza College. With people on campus having serious discussions about building an “interfaith” room on campus, what will happen if someone wants to put up a nativity scene in it?
I, for one, would demand it. Would there be protests about having a statue of baby Jesus and his family on campus because it could offend people of different faiths? Will this very question end the room’s existence?
The fight over Christmas is sure to go on for years. But where is it going to end? Will the public celebration of Christmas become a thing of the past only talked about in whispers or are we going to see the tenthremake of The Nativity Story in movie theaters?
For my part, all I can say is Merry CHRISTmas, peace on earth and good will towards men.