Pubdate: Sun, 25 Dec 2005 Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) Copyright: 2005 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc Contact: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340 Author: Tom Ferrick Jr., Inquirer Columnist Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) STOP NEGATIVE TIDE ON YULETIDE Happy Nondenominational Winter Holiday! Actually, I was going to wish you Merry Christmas, but they won't let me. You know who they are, don't you? The "cabal of secularists, so-called humanists, trial lawyers, cultural relativists, and liberal, guilt-wracked Christians - not just Jewish people." That's who. So says John Gibson, in his new book The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought. (I don't come up these book titles, folks, I just report them.) The plot against Christmas is the flavor of the month in certain circles. Gibson's book is one example. Others include the extremely Rev. Jerry Falwell with his "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign," which has threatened to sue public officials and boycott private companies that attempt to de-Christianize Christmas. There's the evangelical American Family Association, which has boycotted selected retail chains for using "Happy Holidays" in their advertising and store signs, instead of Merry Christmas. There's Bill O'Reilly, who has used his TV show to lambaste retailers for this Happy Holiday trend and who had Gibson on his show recently, where they had this colloquy: It's the liberals O'Reilly: "See, I think it's all part of the secular progressive agenda... to get Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square. Because if you look at what happened in Western Europe and Canada, if you can get religion out, then you can pass secular progressive programs like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage, because the objection to those things is religious-based, usually." Gibson: "You have France or you have... Holland, you have legalized prostitution, you have drugs... Once you start taking out even the secular symbols of religious holidays - Christmas trees, Santas, so forth - refuse to use the word Christmas, you can shove this religious stuff indoors, out of sight." In addition to providing us with some laughs, all this raises philosophical questions: Can there be an oppressed majority? Can you claim victimhood if you run the whole shebang? I ask because about 77 percent of Americans are Christian and 90 percent of Americans say they celebrate Christmas, which means there must be even some secular humanists out there who deck their halls with boughs of holly. Fa-la-la-la-la... If we wanted to retaliate against the 10 percent who are Christmas refuseniks, it would be easy because we Christians control the state legislatures, Congress and the White House. My suggestion is that we pass a law that requires movie theaters and Chinese restaurants to be closed on Christmas Day. That'll teach them. Make them stay at home and stew while we have fun. Ho, ho, ho In America, Christmas exists on three levels: the cultural, the commercial and the religious. Darned if I can see it in retreat on any of those fronts. The icons of cultural Christmas - Santa Claus, Christmas trees, wreaths, lights, yuletide carols - are inescapable. Commercial Christmas is so robust that it threatens to eat the whole holiday. Finally, when it comes to the religious part, this is the one time of year when you are likely to see even the most lapsed of the lapsed in a pew somewhere. So what's the problem? This happy tableau of peace on earth, good will to men lacks one thing: a devil. And Falwell, Gibson, O'Reilly et al. are perfectly willing to produce one for their own ends, which are mostly commercial: to deliver an audience, to sell a book, to tease out more contributions to their organizations. And if there is scant factual basis for it? Not to worry. An appeal to prejudice rarely requires facts. Unfortunately, their endeavor is as lucrative as it is ludicrous, this business of manufacturing ill will. To them, on this happy holiday, I offer this refrain: Shut up. To the rest of you, allow me to wish you a Merry Christmas. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman