[Vision2020] Separation of church and state holidays

[keely emerinemix]

I appreciate this, Wayne -- and I agree.  I celebrate Christmas as the birth 
of Jesus, who I believe is God Incarnate.  My friend Hollis doesn't.  She 
celebrates something else -- why not wish her a happy season with her family 
and friends, knowing that Christ is no less God Incarnate because Keely's 
friend in Colorado doesn't celebrate the holiday that marks His birth.

Merry Christmas to all of you who identify as Christian.  Happy Hanukkah to 
my Jewish friends, and Happy Holidays to the people in my life who don't 
celebrate any particular holiday.

God bless us, everyone.

keely



From: "Art Deco" <deco at moscow.com>
To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] Separation of church and state holidays
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 07:29:48 -0800

   Tuesday, December 12, 2006


Separation of church and state holidays
J.R. Labbe
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
December 12, 2006

The e-mail came from a well-meaning and locally respected physician. His 
concern? The use of the word "holiday" in place of Christmas.

"I have talked to many people about this, and have UNIFORMLY found them to 
be irritated about the anti- Christian, defamatory use of holiday instead of 
Christmas," he wrote. "I talked to my ham radio friends at coffee, my wine 
drinking buddies at our weekly Wednesday noon lunch, to a Best-Buy Store 
manager (they shun 'Christmas,' but he said 'many people are upset about 
it.'), my neighbors, a retired CEO who owned an international corporation 
headquartered in FW (Fort Worth), etc. I really dislike 'holiday' & I am 
sick of it in the (Fort Worth Star-Telegram), on TV, & the radio. Why does 
the Star-Telegram not have something about this?"


The good doctor included a number of attachments to his e-mail, including an 
editorial cartoon bemoaning a politically correct Santa wishing a "Merry 
religious holiday of your preference" and commentaries by self-described 
conservatives Don Feder and Dennis Prager on the purging of Christmas from 
our culture.

In an attempt to be educational, I suggested that retailers started using 
the phrase "Happy Holidays" in their advertising as a way to save money. 
Since the "holiday" season runs from the day after Halloween to Jan. 1, they 
were looking for a phrase that captured Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, 
New Year's, Kwanzaa and Diwali - every conceivable celebration during this 
time of year - so they didn't have to go to the expense of remaking their 
ads.

"There's nothing anti-Christian about it. It is purely a business decision," 
my e-mail said. "As a Christian, it does not bother me one bit whether 
someone wishes me Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. Don't you think our 
Lord and Savior would want us to concentrate more on following His great 
commandment to love one another - than on something as trivial as this?"

The use of "trivial" hit a nerve.

"Honestly, I think we should have a little respect for the Christmas season, 
and not act like Jell-O-spined wimps who can be molded like putty," he 
wrote.

I attempted to counter the doc's inclusion of the newspaper in the war on 
Christmas by pointing out the times that the Star-Telegram has reprinted the 
Christmas story from the Book of Luke, the number of columns I and other 
Christian writers have written about our faith, the letters to the editor 
that consistently and openly represent Christian viewpoints on a variety of 
issues.

"My God is so much bigger than this trivial - yes, trivial - non-debate," my 
e-mail said. "If you want to be outraged about what's happening to 
Christians in the 21st century, I'd direct your attention to our brothers 
and sisters in Christ living in nations that don't have the freedom to 
worship as one chooses. Christians in other parts of the world are being 
beaten, jailed, tortured and killed for their faith. You're upset because 
someone says 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'? Sorry, I'm 
saving my outrage for issues that merit it."

Re-reading these words I realize I sounded much more harsh than intended. 
The good doctor is obviously experiencing real angst from what he perceives 
as an encroachment or minimalization of his faith.

Navigating this intersection of sectarian with the secular is crowded with 
dented fenders and smashed bumpers. In a nation that values individual 
freedom and the ability to worship the god of one's own belief, the 
co-opting of a religious observance into the commercial world makes for 
trouble.

Last year, Charles C. Haynes, senior scholar and director of education 
programs at the First Amendment Center, wrote a thought-provoking column 
titled, "To save Christmas, separate Christ from commerce."

"If the aim is to keep 'Christ' in the shopping-mall Christmas or to ensure 
that pagan trees and mistletoe don't lose their Christian labels, then it 
might make sense to attack presidents and business owners who commit the 
'happy holiday' sin," Haynes wrote. "But if the goal is to restore the 
religious meaning of the Christian holy day, then they are aiming at the 
wrong Target.

"Once the birth of Jesus was made a 'national holiday,' taking 'Christ out 
of Christmas' was destined to happen."

Therein lies the answer for all who bemoan the corruption of Christianity: 
The United States should no longer "celebrate" Christmas - or Easter for 
that matter - as national holidays. Let the retailers have the days; just 
don't call them Christmas or Easter.

To expand on an idea posited first by the Puritan minister Roger Williams, 
who warned about the worldly pollution of faith back in 1635, and developed 
by Haynes in his column, let the merchants have their pagan trees and 
"Jingle Bells," Santa Claus and the elves, chocolate Easter bunnies and 
pastel-colored eggs.

Leave the creche and the cross out of it.

If you want to put Christ back into Christmas, then instead of battling the 
mall crowd to spend outrageous amounts of money on presents that will be 
forgotten by Easter, use that time and money to feed the hungry, clothe the 
poor and visit the infirm.

Jesus' new commandment was not for "them" to love us, but for us to love 
them.
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