I’ve been relatively uninterested in the whole "war on Christmas" uproar, but after hearing Dobson talk about it on his show, seeing Honda’s bastardization of "We wish you a Merry Christmas", Stacy’s article at Newsbusters, and the big flap over the 2005 White House greeting card not containing the word Christmas, I wanted to comment. I’m not really sure if this battle is worth fighting.
Why Fighting The War on Xmas is Dumb
Taking on this issue with such vehemence probably looks very silly to non-conservatives who want a more pluralistic society. I mean, many people are celebrating their own religious holidays, so why shouldn’t retailers be more inclusive? For them, it’s about sales, after all – they’re probably not complicit w/ the ACLU trying to remove religion from the public marketplace.
Also, we are kidding ourselves if we think that trying to put financial and public opinion pressure on vendors via boycotts is really aiming at the heart of the problem – the fact that our preaching of Christ is not compelling, loving, or sacrificial enough to change people’s minds and hearts. Fighting such superficial indicators makes us look superficial – I mean, if we get retailers to say "Merry Christmas," are we now that much closer to being a Christian nation?
Why Fighting the War on Xmas is Essential
As anyone familiar with Christian renewal theology will know, the battle is fought simultanouesly on three fronts, based on the tripartate model of man (body, soul, spirit). In the most superficial realm, the physical (body) realm, we legislate. But more critically, we also fight in the soul (mind) arena by educating people, and by compelling argumentation. Lastly, we war in the spirit by living and preaching the gospel, to change the spirits of individuals.
The war on Xmas isn’t really meant to hold on to whatever vestiges of Christianity we have left in our country. It’s meant to push back against the pressures of groups like the ACLU who are trying to force religion out of public life in the name of plurality, tolerance, and the ever misunderstood, and fascist application of separation of church and state. Even Jewish organizations are realizing that this is another front in the war on faith. I’m sure they have in mind the famous holocaust poem
First they came for the Jews, but I am not a Jew so I said nothing,
Then they came for the Catholics, but I am not a Catholic so I said nothing,
Then they came for the Unionists and Industrialists but I am neither so I said nothing,
Now they are coming for me and there is no-one left to say anything!
Jews recognize that persecution progresses like the frog in the kettle – little by little until it is too late.
Is this Really Anti-Christian Persecution?
Is this persecution like that going on in North Korea and China? Of course not. Is this really unjust persecution? No. Is this whole battle about Christians freaking out over something inconsequential? I think so. If some small number of Christians wants to spend effort on this, I say let them – it’s a free country, and who knows, it may turn out to be an important battle in hindsight. But I doubt it. I’m not going to follow along and waste my time on this one.
What We Need to Focus On
I think what is more consequential is that it is an indicator that we are no longer a Christian nation. What we need is to put more money into preaching and missions, service ministries that change lives, and political actions that really matter, like:
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defeating Roe v. Wade and providing the support mechanisms necessary for helping unwed mothers and others who don’t want to care for their child
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preserving traditional marriage via definition of marriage amendment(s)
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supporting religious liberty both here and abroad
Leave it to Seeker to inject a holocaust analogy into a debate about the secularization of holiday season that most people equate with commercialism anyway.
Bring it on.
Polunatic's War on Christmas that the ACLU denies and to be fair and balanced, The War on the War on Christmas.
Well Pol, your link is, um, non standard html, but I figured out where your War on War on Xmas link should have gone. Besides being a rant just short of lunatic raving, your post could serve as a nice lampoon of the ACLU's view of xmas ;).
I don't see what all the fuss is about either. But then, I live in Texas where if you try and tell us we can't say "Merry Christmas" or we can't have a navtivity scene on our lawn, we go in the house and get our gun.
It could work other places…;-)
I don't know if I'd go git the gun first, or just spit some t'baccee juice on their boot and ignore them. :D
How Would Jesus Fight the War on Christmas?
Since my last post on how Christians should keep our joy in spite of the so-called "wars," I've been thinking through the way Jesus himself handled conflict. He certainly never ran from it.
Apologies for the multiple trackbacks. I was getting error messages that led me to believe it wasn't working. Feel free to delete the extras, and also this comment.
NP Tom, thanks.
Leave it to Seeker to inject a holocaust analogy into a debate about the secularization of holiday season that most people equate with commercialism anyway.
Well…note,
(Christmas Under the Third Reich
By Esther Gajek
Anthropology Today, Vol. 6, No. 4. (Aug., 1990), pp. 4-5)
A few further notes here.
Yes, we all get it. Symbols and signs don't matter, it just doesn't matter….until, it matters.
But it seems to me that matter is only a symptom of what has happened spiritually. This is what Seeker points out, there is no use in getting legalistic. It's either there naturally as surely as a tree grows from a seed or it is not. If someone is putting bonds on a sapling, yes they should be stopped. But if there is nothing growing there anyway, then nothing need be done but plant seeds.
Holiday Trees?
TO BRITISH eyes, the giant spruce erected on the West Lawn of the United States Capitol building last week looked indisputably like a Christmas tree.
But in America, where political correctness has made use of the word "Christmas'' taboo in many w…
Hey mynym, welcome. Nice quote from Anth Today.
I'm of the most humble opinion that rather than argue about the greeting of christmas we should refocus our efforts towards the de-secularization of christmas to bring back christmas to its christian roots of giving to the needy and poor in the name of Jesus our savior, Lord, and GOD. But that's just my humble suggestion and opinion. (I apologize for interupting/ and or coming in too late!):)