It's been more than a few days since I posted here, but I've had one of the best reasons in the world for that--Christmas. I hope that your Christmas was, in one way or another, a special time for you and for those you care about most. In my case, that was definitely true; I got to spend the day with my immediate family, and particularly enjoyed spending time with my granddaughter. She has come such a long way in the past year, physically and personally, and I both hope and pray that it continues, at least to the point (knock on wood) where she can dance at her grandchild's wedding.
And now, to make a small shift from the personal to the political, I have more than a few words to say about the so-called "war on Christmas."
You know what I'm talking about. The use of the phrase "Happy Holidays," so as not to offend non-Christians. The injunctions against creches on public property. And, in the case of school Christmas concerts, the removal of religious references from Christmas songs.
I'm forced to concede that, as it relates to the latter, there's a good point there. I'm opposed to censorship, as well as rewriting songs for the same of not offending non-believers. I think it's akin to rewriting history as well as works of art--which is, after all, what songs are. It would be far better to either omit religious songs and focus on Santa Claus and Rudolph, or just warn people in advance that they're going to be exposed to religious music and let them decide whether or not to attend. To "edit" the songs seems to me to be an anti-historical attempt to pretend that Christmas is not, nor never was, a religious holiday.
Apart from this, however, the proponents of the "war on Christmas" argument seem to want to pretend something else: that Christmas in the United States is purely a religious holiday. To take that approach is to deny that so much of our observance of the holiday--evergreens, parties and gift-giving--is an appropriation of pagan customs done for the purpose of making the holiday more popular, especially among those who don't believe. Moreover, as a holiday (religious or otherwise), celebrating December 25 as the birthday of Jesus makes no factual or Biblical sense, as has been documented time and time again.
Even worse, however, is to pretend that other holidays are not being celebrated at this time of year--or that the people who celebrate them do not enjoy the same right to do so that Christians have to celebrate Christmas in whatever way they choose. To do so is to promote true religious warfare--the exact opposite of what freedom of religion in this country is supposed to mean.
If Christians really want to defend the true meaning of Christmas, and make that meaning invincible against so-called secular "attacks," the very best thing they could do is to devote their time, energy and other resources not in telling people how to celebrate, but in showing them how to celebrate--with public acts of kindness, charity and fellowship. Incidentally, that is the best way to not only celebrate and promote Christmas, but to celebrate and promote Christianity: to accept the reality of living in a secular world, and giving it a tangible witness of a better way to live in it.
And that, so far as I'm concerned, is what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown. Happy Holidays, regardless of what or how you celebrate.
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