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Plenty Of Troops To Fight Against the War On Christmas

Signing up to fight the "War on Christmas" may be more popular these days than signing up to fight that other war. Between Bill O'Reilly's ranting and John Gibson's writing, publicity about the non-existent war on Christmas hit a peak last holiday season.

Alliance Defense Fund Attorney Mike Johnson says that "About this time every year, our phones start to ring off the hook from people reporting cases of discrimination." According to Johnson, ADF received 400 phone calls last year about incidents that included possible discrimination against Christians.

This year, the ADF will once again focus on keeping Christmas in the schools and in public spaces. Over 930 attorneys are available "to combat any improper attempts to censor the celebration of Christmas in schools and on public property." According to the ADF, the organization's major function is to point out what is legal in cases in which institutions "censor" Christmas. For example (from the ADF website):

* The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that public schools must ban the singing of religious Christmas carols or prohibit the distribution of candy canes or Christmas cards.

* School officials do not violate the Constitution by closing on religious holidays such as Christmas and Good Friday.

* School officials are not legally obligated to recognize all other religious holidays simply because they officially recognize Thanksgiving or Christmas.

* School officials may use "Christmas Vacation" to refer to the December holiday break without offending the Constitution.

* Government-sponsored Christmas displays are not banned as some people believe. When faced with the question of whether a Christmas display is constitutional, a court simply asks, "Is the government celebrating the holiday or promoting religion?" Often, the "Three Reindeer Rule" is used by courts, whereby a judge reasons that having a sufficient number of secular objects in close enough proximity to the Christmas item (such as a crèche) renders the overall display as a constitutional community observance of the holiday.

This year, the ADF has support from Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family, Coral Ridge Ministries, and the majority of the nation's state-based family policy councils.

Recently, Wal-Mart changed it's policy on holiday greetings. Wal-Mart staff will no longer say "Happy Holidays" to customers, but will instead say "Merry Christmas." The "Happy Holiday" policy led to protests and calls for a boycott from conservative religious groups.

Comments

I've just signed up for this army. I've been fighting on the Best Buy front on the war on Christmas with an original song that seems to be generating lots of interest.

As you may know, Best Buy banned the use of "Merry Christmas" in their ads this year. It caused me to wonder what kind of an Inn Best Buy would be if it were an Inn, and not a department store, back in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. That thought gave birth to this song:

Best Buy Inn
Dr. BLT
words and music by Dr. BLT (c)2006
http://www.drblt.net/music/BestBI.mp3

Posted by: Dr BLT on 11/25/06 at 6:26 PM

How long are we going to sit back and allow the religious right to poison our culture, and create these rifts that didn't previously exist? I'm not religious, but I never thought twice about when someone said "Merry Christmas" to me before Bill O'Reilly decided that there was a war on Christmas. I simply didn't give it a second thought if someone said Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas. It didn't matter to me, it was the thought that counted.

In somehow deciding that Happy Holidays constituted a war on religion, these idiots have made me far too aware now. I won't shop at stores that say Merry Christmas. I won't buy holiday cards that say anything about Christmas. Five years ago, I didn't even think about it. Now I do. Mission accomplished Bill. In criticizing the secularists for politicizing the holidays, you have managed to politicize the holidays, and make our culture just that much more vitriolic.

Posted by: Adam on 11/27/06 at 6:58 AM

No one thinks the war on christmas is a bit silly?

Posted by: Nate on 11/27/06 at 12:05 PM

I find this most curious. First of all, Biblical scholars agree that Jesus was likely born in July or August. Seondly, and please don't think I'm blasphomous, there was no snow on the ground. Thirdly, as the Christian church his been often prone, hijack a pegan/heathen celebration, put a Christian label on it, get the corporate world to help sponsor it, and you've got a religous holiday. Remember, Visa and Mastercard are accepted here.

Posted by: Doug on 11/27/06 at 2:50 PM

Christmas is an important American holiday, but not in a religious way. Although it certainly contains a religious meaning for many of us, it is also a secularized holiday with a moral lesson of giving.

Instead of being based on the Nativity story, think of the secularized Christmas in terms of the Gift of the Magi story. The morals of both the religious and secular Christmas are compatible but the secularized version is also compatible with a secular government.

The religious version of Christmas has no place in government institutions any more than the government has a place in religious institutions. Private businesses (including WalMart and Best Buy) have every right to individually determine what is best for their own market share by deciding which is more profitable- Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.

The entire idea of a War on Christmas is ridiculous.

Posted by: CalGrown on 11/27/06 at 4:41 PM

Since when is Thanksgiving a religious holiday? Because if it is, I'd like to start a War on Thanksgiving too.

Posted by: C. P. on 11/27/06 at 6:57 PM

I'd like to know when the anti-War on Christmas brigades will start demanding these stores close on Christmas and, more importantly, Easter?

Posted by: AlphaLiberal on 11/27/06 at 8:55 PM

Someone needs to tell the ADF that Thanksgiving is NOT a religious holiday. We only celebrate two religious holidays, Easter (counting good Friday) and Christmas. Not only are we losing our sense of humor in this country, but we are getting sloppy.

Posted by: Hal Kimmell on 11/27/06 at 10:15 PM

RE: War on Christmas at Best Buy

"...It caused me to wonder what kind of an Inn Best Buy would be if it were an Inn, and not a department store, back in Bethlehem when Jesus was born..."

I think that the extension of this metaphor is that BestBuy would have told Jesus and his family that there were no remaining PlayStation3s and that they would have to settle for a lowly PlayStation2.

Posted by: JTP202 on 11/28/06 at 8:28 AM

We didn't have this "war" until the ACLU and their lawyers (which are mainly athiest) decided to clog the courts with their complaints.

Posted by: Liquid on 11/30/06 at 1:13 PM

As Tom Teepen said today ...American Christians thrill themselves with the notion that Christians are the most discriminated-against people in the country. The War on Christmas does lack an enemy, because there was never any war to begin with. Just a few nutty evangelical groups demanding that we stop using Happy Holidays (which have been around since the 1940s) because it means we're somehow snubbing Jesus and are discriminating agains Christians.

All this in Tom's article. And he's right. These lunatics will be the downfall of the freedoms and progressive thinking that makes this country so wonderful...at least wonderful most of the time.

Posted by: Jami on 12/19/06 at 9:15 AM