Whether one calls it the Christmas or the holiday season, it's
rapidly becoming the stupid season. Every day I get mail from
various groups warning that efforts to remove the word Christmas
is just one more step toward secularizing our country under the
guise of separation of church and state. I also get e-mails from
civil libertarians and atheists who accuse me of hysteria when I
write about the assault on religion in America.
Last year, the Committee to Save Merry Christmas called for the
boycott of Federated stores because it banned the use of the
words Merry Christmas by their employees. I refused to shop at
Bloomingdale's and Macy's last year for another reason - I
couldn't afford them.
I just received an e-mail from the American Family Association
signed by its chairman, Donald Widmon. Apparently, Walgreens has
apologized for omitting Christmas from its advertising but has
promised to resume using the words next year. Mr. Widmon's
message suggested that we send Sears and K-Mart letters asking
them to do the same. The latest news is that Target may be
restoring Christmas to its late season ads. Apparently, boycotts
are working.
I'm pretty conflicted about this issue because Christ has been
missing from Christmas for quite some time. While the efforts to
erase God from our public areas have finally struck a nerve
within the Christian community, it's foolhardy to think the mere
use of certain words constitutes genuine spirituality.
I can understand why stores prefer the generic holiday greeting
in lieu of Merry Christmas, which is a celebration of the birth
of Christ. My Jewish friends and neighbors never greet me with
"Happy Chanukah" because they know I don't celebrate
that holiday. Nor would I wish them a Merry Christmas for the
same reason. I send them Season Greetings cards, and to those
friends that I know are Christians, I send Nativity cards.
Nevertheless, a Christmas tree is still a Christmas tree and
calling it something else is ludicrous.
A New York Sun reader and regular correspondent, Dorothy
Wachsstock of Queens, recalled her childhood as a Jewish
youngster during Christmas in an e-mail: "Growing up as an
Orthodox Jew, I loved the Christmas festivities and learned all
the Christmas carols in school. I was in the Choir in Jr. High
and the Pres. of the G.O. if you know what that is. Why the
atheists want to take away this religion scares me ... my father,
a very devout Jew, never objected as it did my belief in my own
religion no harm. It is a religious holiday for Christians and
just as we Jews observe our own religious holidays. I wish every
one a Merry Christmas."
Bless you, Dorothy. You remind me of my own childhood in Spanish
Harlem with the Dunetzs, the Lermans, and the Rubens who lived on
110th Street before the neighborhood deteriorated. Just the
memory of the warm fresh baked Challah bread they gave our family
makes my blood sugar levels spike. The city had Blue Laws in
those days, so stores were closed on Sundays but we shopped
during the Christmas season for bargains on Orchard Street. The
Jewish vendors sold seasonal decorations of all kinds, and wished
us a Merry Christmas as we parted.
When did all this change, this camaraderie, this respect for one
another's beliefs? Did it start with Madelyn Murray and is it
proceeding with the likes of Michael Newdow and the American
Civil Liberties Union? Groups like the American Family
Association are up in arms because they can see the writing on
the wall and envision the day when the ACLU declares that
Christmas as a national holiday is unconstitutional. In the
unlikely event that the courts decommission Christmas as a
national holiday and scrap all religious holy days, that would
also mean the end of days off for Congress and the court system
on Sundays and all religious holidays. That will never happen.
Books about this issue are being publicized. The Fox News
Channel's John Gibson and Bill O'Reilly are among those decrying
the secularization of the season. But is this just a topic of
debate for them or a genuine concern for the future of religious
freedom? If secularists have hijacked Christmas, we sure made it
a pretty easy job.
How many of those clamoring for a spiritual rebirth of Christmas,
actually attend church every Sunday or love and forgive their
neighbors as Christ exhorted them to? Once upon a time, the early
Christians celebrated this joyous event in secret, in catacombs.
Their gifts were tokens of love, not extravagant evidence of
one's wealth, like gift wrapped $50,000 luxury cars.
Before we condemn what's going on in the public squares, perhaps
we should examine how we celebrate Christmas in our homes and our
hearts.