Don't let them steal Christmas

By Adam Graham

The last couple of years I've written columns about the importance of keeping Christ in Christmas. This year, such a call would seem superfluous.

One has to be thankful for the heretofore successful battle against political correctness. Christian organizations have made it clear to retailers that a term that was meant to make non-Christians feel comfortable ("Happy Holidays") in fact makes many Christians distinctly uncomfortable. "Happy Holidays" was born of retailers dedication to the bottom line, and will die the same way.

There are many people awakening, even outside of Christian circles, now that somebody's making a little noise. To some, it never occurred that'd it was offensive to Christians until this year. That's why House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) went ahead and renamed the Capitol "Holiday Tree" back to the "Capitol Christmas Tree." In the end, the forces of PCism don't have too many allies in the mainstream liberal leadership. Sure, they've got the ACLU and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and a few far leftists in the old media, but that's about it.

What's against them is the whole of American Culture. This time of year, we see the despicable Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch who both hate Christmas. Each year a dozen movies are made where someone saves Christmas. You have recurring specials featuring Charlie Brown, Garfield, and Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer, which while all aren't explicitly religious, still feature the name of Christmas. The "Holidays" just doesn't have the punch, and doesn't mean anything to anyone. The truth is that most of the people who go about saying, "Happy Holidays" go home, put their presents under a Christmas tree, open Christmas presents, and then go have Christmas dinner. They're just trying to carefully hide the fact that they celebrate Christmas.

It all amounts to nothing more than a silly charade that doesn't really respect our differences, it just papers over them. If we were really about celebrating our differences, Jewish people would wish Christians a Merry Christmas and we would respond by wishing them a Happy Hanukah.

Indeed, this war over Christmas is ours to lose. However, we may just do that. The greatest danger we face is letting the war dominate our Christmas. For some, the bitter campaign has become all they think about and their focus, rather than the wonder of Christ's birth. The ACLU has spent years trying to ruin the Christmases of people in small towns across this country. I certainly won't let them ruin mine.

This is a time for acts of mercy and charity. It's a time of love and cheer. In our attempts to fight for Christmas, it is possible to risk losing focus on what makes it worth fighting for. I thought it was such a brilliant idea by Kevin McCullough to send Christmas Cards to the ACLU. It's a protest in the spirit of Christmas. Let us remember that Christ came to our fallen planet not because we deserved it, but because of God's love for us.

The last thing we want to do is give a bad name to Christmas. There have been scattered reports this year of people berating store clerks for saying, "Happy Holidays." Such antics are counterproductive. The clerk is simply doing their job. They're saying what their employers tell them to say or what they've learned in politically correct schools. The last thing we need is for people who say Merry Christmas to develop a reputation as cantankerous cranks. Save your ire for corporate management, not the help.

The "War on Christmas" will be won as much (if not more so) by generosity of spirit, kindness, forbearance, patience, and mercy than by boycotts. So, the key to victory is keeping Christmas as it should be kept and if we keep our focus on that, success is assured.

© Adam Graham