While waiting for the Wednesday morning traffic report on the way to work I had to endure the sound of Jim Gearhart playing Dr. Moreau to a livelier-than-usual mob of New Jersey 101.5 FM mouth-breathers. Gearhart's listeners were all whipped into a frenzy by the notion that Christmas is about to be banned by secular humanists in league with the ACLU.
This tired refrain, which used to be the province of the Tim LaHaye/James Dobson crowd (the sort of religious hysterics who scream about persecution because the eagle on the national seal hasn't been replaced with a 3-D image of Jesus), is apparently going to be a popular conservative Christmas carol for years to come. I guess it really took hold last year, when Bill O'Reilly started babbling about liberals stealing candy canes from his Christmas tree and Ann Coulter exulted that whenever she said "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays," she felt like she was saying "Fuck you." Leave it to the family-values crowd to set an uplifting tone for the holidays.
Now, I'm sure we're all impressed by the ability of right-wingers to turn anything — even Christmas! — into a vehicle for resentment and political attacks, but I'm also a traditional kinda guy. So let's set at least one ground rule — no lying about Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. The radio squawkers should like that: after all, there'll be more people on the roads driving to the malls to do some shopping. And it will give the term "Black Friday" a whole new level of meaning. How about it, wingers?
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Originally published in The Opinion Mill.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Alethinos
AMEN brother... Unfortunately it won't go away. We cannot duck the gathering religious/cultural storm that has been gathering strength - esp., after it swept Bush into office. It will not go away and indeed, since the Republicans have been stung so often recently and are screaming and flailing about like a wounded Fat White Man in the corner - this will only get worse.
Look for right wing stooges on the radio and tv to scream even louder about things like Christmas - they HAVE TO do this because they are desperate to keep their normal constituency from actually beginning to THINK... Keeping the emotions whipped high and frothy is the answers to that...
Alethinos
2 - kansasman
I wouldn't say it was new. I have heard ever since I was a kid (more then 25 years ago) complaints about the use of x-mas or holidays instead of Christmas....that it was attempts to take Chrtist out of Christmas...what is new, is this year I am hear non-Christians complaining, like a local radio host and friend.
3 - Natalie Davis
Hey, Christ is the reason for the season. Any decent person knows that Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Solstice don't count. Merry Christmas, dammit!
Seriously, I (known Chrismukkwanstice celebrater) too have lamented the commercialization of the season, but the way some fundamentalist Christians go on makes me gag. But remember, they want everyone to think the way THEY think, live the way THEY live, and believe what THEY believe. Or else. That's nothing new.
To them, I say FEH. Peace and goodwill to all is the unifying characteristic of all the winter holidays. Why exclude anyone from that? That doesn't mean that Christmas as a religious holiday needs to be diluted or that saying "Merry Christmas" should be criminalized. But there is nothing wrong with wishing people "happy holidays" or "season's greetings" either -- in fact, those statements show we care about everyone's feelings. I suspect Jesus would approve.
4 - Alethinos
You tell 'em ND!
Alethinos
5 - Anthony Grande
"The sort of religious hysterics who scream about persecution because the eagle on the national seal hasn't been replaced with a 3-D image of Jesus"
No we are screaming about persecution because the ACLU is going up and down the country removing crosses from hillsides and removing crosses from City seals.
I live in California and since I was 4 I always noticed this huge cross on a hill overlooking the freeway. I loved the site of this cross because when I saw it I knew that I was close to home and had a warm feeling. Then one day last week the cross was not there. The ACLU made us take it down.
6 - Anthony Grande
Also, this should be part of comment 5:
There is a small town in I believe California and it is named Las Crusas which means the Crosses in spanish. So on their seal it isn't surprising that there is a cross on it.
Well the ACLU made them take it off.
This is just one example of the ACLU exersizing its dictorial power and pulling religious symbols out of our communities.
7 - KYS
I say, "Leave the christ in christmas!"
For example,
"Christ! Have you seen the cost of wrapping paper?"
or
"Christ, here comes drunk Uncle Sal again...."
Oops! I meant this for the satire page...
8 - Alethinos
Anthony, it is true that the ACLU does go overboard on things. They do a great deal of good work too. What is needed is not hysterics about "Jesus being taken out of Christmas" but a recognition that there are times when the Priests of Political Correctness are just as absurd as Bible thumpers.
I support the ACLU. I get their newsletter. And I let them know when I think they are being UTTERLY ridiculous.
Swinging wildly from one extreme to another though doesn't help here. Moderation. Common sense. Rational behavior. Calmness...
Alethinos
9 - Margaret Romao Toigo
Don't think of it as Christmas being banned, because it is not being banned and cannot possibly be banned. Ever. The First Amendment is still in effect, folks.
What we have lost is something no American should miss, arbitrary partiality toward the traditions and ceremonies of one religious belief.
Diversity is a Good Thing and the recognition of the plurality of our modern society is an even better thing.
Nothing has been lost here, but a great deal has been gained -- if we are able to look beyond the narrow scope of our own perceptions of our collective places in this world.
10 - Dave Nalle
Moderation and common sense are not qualities the ACLU is known for.
If you want the extreme right wingers to stop using this issue to stir up resentment then you need to stop giving them ammo for their attacks.
When the ACLU goes around suing city governments over meaningless Christmas displays they give these guys exactly what they need to keep this little controversy going.
Dave
11 - RedTard
I rather like the ACLU. They sue to get some meaningless symbol off a city seal that nobody cares about and we get 200,000 angry voters switching to the right.
I wish they woud try and take away Christmas.
12 - Margaret Romao Toigo
This "loss of Christmas" is little more than a metaphor for the loss of privilege due to the obsolescence of the assumption that the First Amendment applies only to Christianity.
This stirred up resentment is not about how the courts are "taking away Christmas," but rather how the courts are making Christianity equal to other religions in the eyes of the state, which is how it should be if we wish to live up to our founding principles.
If these are "meaningless" symbols that nobody cares about, then why were there lawsuits?
Somebody somewhere didn't find them meaningless, and more importantly, the courts have not found them to be meaningless, either (FYI, folks, the ACLU can only bring the suits, the actual rulings come from the courts).
Like it or not, America is a multicultural country whose people are, for the most part, actively working toward the elimination of arbitrary prejudices. Equality might feel like a step down from superiority, but it is neither prejudicial nor arbitrary to impose equality upon a group that previously enjoyed a capriciously privileged status.
And let's have no fear of angry voters switching to the right, for the so-called "right" has two sides, one authoritarian, the other libertarian -- just like the so-called "left" has two similar factions.
Be vigilant and stay on the lookout for bipartisan tyranny, it is everywhere.
13 - RedTard
"the ACLU can only bring the suits, the actual rulings come from the courts"
I think that most Americans are aware that the left must rely on the courts to enforce their policies as they don't have sufficient public support.
Here is what the actual wording of the constitution is:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..."
What did the city seal have to do with congress or a law? Nothing.
Of course, I haven't spent my whole life studying the document so I am not able to creatively read whatever I want into it yet.
They say that if you speak the same word over and over agian it becomes meaningless. I think the judges in our system have read the constitution so many times it has created the same effect.
14 - Margaret Romao Toigo
The "left?" C'mon, RedTard, aren't we all Americans here?
Do you ever ask yourself who is served by partisanship, the illusion of divisions along "red" and "blue" state lines supported by the silly notion that the American people are a bunch of two dimensional fools who are unable to think for themselves?
This whole left/right thing is a ridiculous oversimplification of the public sentiment and, as such, is hardly useful for anything other than political propaganda, which we are supposed to be smart enough to recognize and shun.
Besides, it isn't the policies of "the left" that are being enforced by our courts, it is the U.S. Constitution, which the so-called "left" does not support any more effectively than the so-called "right."
There are libertarians and authoritarians on both sides of that proverbial aisle, and while we are getting busy arguing left versus right, the authoritarians are imposing tyranny upon us from both sides.
Removing Christian symbols from our government symbols does not prohibit the free exercise of religion, it helps to guarantee it for everyone.
Those symbols may not actually establish a religion, but they do serve to elevate the symbolism of one religion over that of all others. And there is no place for such arbitrary preferences when we hold the truth that "all men are created equal" as self-evident.
15 - RedTard
Certainly I could imagine that I would feel strange to have certain symbol of other religions thrust upon me and I think we can balance those rights.
Sometimes it seems these lawsuits go too far. Las Cruces literally means 'the crosses' so if there is one place where this should be allowed it is there. Also, I have not been given significant evidence to show that anyone in Las Cruces was actually offended. The lawsuit was brought by someone who doesn't even live there.
I understand balancing the rights of minorities, but the majority shouldn't be held hostage by the whims of a tiny percent of the population.
For example, if one day I woke up angry because I had to put up with a calender that counts 2005 past the death of JC, should the other 99.9% of Americans that are not concerned be forced to change at at my whim?
It's probably only a matter of time.
16 - Margaret Romao Toigo
The case of the crosses in the city of Las Cruces' official emblem is still pending. From what I have read, the ACLU may just lose this one because of the name of the town.
I understand how lawsuits of this kind may seem petty and frivolous, but the reasoning behind them is most decidedly not.
Christianity wrongfully enjoyed a privileged status as our unofficial national religion (wrong because such policies, written or unwritten, relegate all other religions to a lesser status by sheer default) and the courts are righting that wrong in just about every case in which it has been demonstrated.
These seemingly small changes to symbols and other artifacts are representative of the significant progress we have made toward greater religious liberty provided by that growing wall of separation between church and state.
And, pay no attention to the propaganda of prideful Christians who believe the loss of temporal privilege to be a tragedy. Because sincere repentance is not possible without our God-given free will, the continuing secularization of society will ultimately make us into a more spiritual people.
17 - Anthony Grande
The ACLU does much more bad than good.
It is not just the seals but saying that we can't put a cross on a hillside, saying someone can't have too many American flags on their property, appeasing gang members over cops, saying we can't say "Christmas" is schools. You name it, the ACLU did it.
What good HAVE they done anyway?
18 - Margaret Romao Toigo
Specifics, Mr. Grande. That is your word for today, along with details, context and references.
Or are you more interested in posting propaganda than you are in seeking the truth through the application of logic?
Religious symbolism -- of any faith -- has no place in the symbolism of a government that is not supposed to favor one religious belief over another.
Religious symbolism is not going to be banned from all of society (does that notion really sell or is it just for shock value?), just from the places where it never should have been in the first place.
19 - Anthony Grande
I know that if a Muslim majority city had a half moon on the seal the ACLU would not jump in.
Margaret, I want specifics from YOU. What good has the ACLU done in the last 5 years?
20 - Margaret Romao Toigo
Mr. Grande, accusations of inaction with regard to some hypothetical scenario are the sort of weak arguments that I have come to expect from the critics of the ACLU (BTW, you ought to hear some of the silliness that comes out of the minds of the authoritarians who wish to demonize the NRA in the same fashion).
By default, the burden of proof is placed squarely upon the shoulders of the accuser, not those who question the veracity of the accusations.
What's the matter, was there no readily available rationale for your previous unfounded accusations?
21 - Hal Pawluk
"I loved the site of this cross because..."
Buck up, Anthony. The site is still there - it's only the cross that is gone.
22 - Anthony Grande
I will repeat- "Margaret, I want specifics from YOU. What good has the ACLU done in the last 5 years?"
I can argue all day on why the ACLU sucks, but no one can argue that the ACLU is good.
23 - Natalie Davis
Short answer: The ACLU has protected the freedom of speech of a diverse set of Americans, including left-wingers, right-wingers, even neo-Nazis. If that isn't good, I don't know what is.
24 - Victor Plenty
You still haven't presented any evidence for your claims, Anthony. Specific details, of specific cases proving the ACLU has ever done all of the things you claim it has done, would go a long way toward establishing some tiny shred of credibility for you.
Or you could just go on demanding evidence from everyone else, while consistently refusing to ever provide any yourself. That seems to be more than enough to keep yourself convinced, even though it's not likely to persuade any thinking person to share your views.
25 - Victor Lana
This is my humble opinion:
Christmas is Christ's birthday.
So, for those of us who believe in Him, we celebrate that day. People tend to forget it is a birthday celebration for a person some believe to be the Son of God.
The ACLU (or any other person or group) cannot change what the day signifies. Taking a cross down from a hill, or not being able to have a manger scene in a town square, does not diminish the day.
They used to say, "Keep Christ in Christmas."
And the best way to do that is within oneself. Decorate your houses like crazy, say "Merry Christmas" as much as you like, and go to church to honor Him.
Everyone is giving too much power to others who have no power except what has been given from above.
Whew! Pass the egg nog.