the so-called war on Christmas

[cellio]

A year ago I wrote an essay that I didn't post here because I'd submitted it for publication elsewhere. The fabricated "war on Christmas" has caused me to want to share it now.

As I write this, it is mid-December and numerous editorial writers, buoyed by what they think is a mandate from the November 2004 election in the US, are railing against the secularization of Christmas. Now on one level I agree with them; what is supposed to be the second-holiest day on the Christian calendar has been reduced, largely, to reindeer, tinsel-covered trees, a fat red guy, and loot. Lots of loot; it's how many retailers stay in business. If I were a Christian, I might be pretty annoyed at that too.

The problem, though, is in their targetting. I've seen quite a few folks lately writing about how catering to the non-Christians (who, after all, are a minority and ought to just do everyone a favor and get out of the country now, or so I gather) has brought this on. "The Jews won't let us celebrate our holiday!", they whine, or "those damned athiests are taking the christ out of Christmas and must be stopped!" It's always someone else's fault, it seems.

Where is the self-examination and responsibility? How many of these good Christians, now complaining about secularization, put up trees, teach their kids about Santa, and break the bank on gifts for their families? This seems to be the norm in quite a few families. Hey guys, listen up: the non-Christians didn't impose secularization over the objections of the faithful followers of Jesus; the Christians did it to themselves. And now that it's spun out of control, a few of them are looking for a scapegoat.

It's time for everyone to take a little responsibility for his own beliefs and practices. No one else is going to do it for you, and sitting back doing nothing but whining about it gets old. It's everyone's responsibility to live out your beliefs through acts, not just by spouting words. If you believe that it's time to restore Christmas as a religious holiday, what are you doing about it?

I offer, then, nine commandments for indignant Christians (ten would be presumptuous):

1. Thou shalt act in accordance with thy beliefs. This is the greatest commandment.

2. Thou shalt not be surprised when others draw conclusions about thy beliefs from thy actions. If it walketh like a duck and talketh like a duck...

3. Thou shalt permit others to act based on their beliefs, whether those beliefs be of other faiths or none at all.

4. Thou shalt spend Christmas in worship, not in material gluttony. Extra merit will derive from spending the day with those more needy than thyself.

5. Thou shalt enhance thy private property with decorations in accordance with thy beliefs, and refrain from decorations not in accordance with them.

6. Thou shalt recognize that public property belongs to, well, the public, and refrain from imposing thy views there. This applies to everyone else, too.

7. Thou shalt carry the message of Christmas well past December 26 and strive to emulate the target of thy veneration. That's what it's really about, after all.

8. Thou shalt cease and desist from elevating minor holidays (like Chanukah and Kwanzaa) into "Jewish Christmas" or "African Christmas". It's not that simple, and thou doest not get it.

9. Recognizing that Christmas is not a secular holiday (in thy beliefs), thou shalt immediately commence lobbying for governments and employers to remove this holiday from their schedules of days off. (Thou canst take it as a vacataion day, just as the Jews do with Yom Kippur and the pagans do with Beltane.)

May you be free to enjoy your holy day insofar as you permit others to do the same with theirs.

I wish my Christian friends a merry Christmas. I realize that your lunatic fringe does not speak for you, and I'm sorry you have to put up with those guys.

Comments

[cellio]

Thanks.

I think the holiday thing would be only fair. If they want a religious holiday, then they should it treat it like everyone else's religious holidays -- use vacation or floating holidays or unpaid time to observe it. If, on the other hand, they want a national holiday, then they must recognize that there is no state religion and, thus, Christmas is a secular holiday. You can't have it both ways and be logically consistent, IMO.

I'm glad I work for a company that will let me adjust holidays [1] (I'm at work today), but I know many, many people who are forced to take Christmas as a holiday (and sometimes Good Friday too!) and then have to spend limited vacation days for Pesach, Rosh Hashana, etc.

[1] The small company that hired me agreed to this before I accepted the job offer. The large corporation that later bought them doesn't seem to permit this (they balked when I brought it up), but we persuaded them that they would have to honor the policy already in place at this location (or perhaps for me specifically; I don't know and no one else has tried this).