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By Dave Vaughan
Guest Columnist
ST. MARY'S TODAY
Once again this year, as millions of homes are draped in lights, thousands of towns, cities and hamlets are decorated with wreaths, candy canes and trees, billions of hours of radio and television programming will be dedicated to holiday music and stories, our country will be shattered by the bombastic "War on Christmas" (I am not sure if that phrase is trademarked by Fox News or not).
A foreigner, unfamiliar with our country, might be
excused if, upon visiting he didn't quite understand this war. It is,
after all, somewhat insidious. He might wonder, after seeing a few
locales literally ablaze with Christmas lights and festooned with
holiday icons, if the only thing missing was a "Merry Christmas" tattoo
on the foreheads of every man, woman and child. He might make the odd
suggestion that Christmas is the only religious day, of any religion,
that is also a federal holiday, a fact, he might argue, that seems to
show Christmas has won the war.
What he wouldn't understand is that a war on
Christmas is part of american history. The pilgrims banned Christmas, an
overt act of aggression that tilted, for a brief time, the war in favor
of the anti-christmas forces. In the early twentieth century Henry Ford
accused the jews of trying to eradicate Christmas, and in the 1950s the
John Birch society insisted the commies were waging the campaign. Today,
some blathering blowhards are pointing their righteous fingers at the
ACLU and "progressives" who, they say, won't rest until "Christmas" and
its religious connotations are outlawed.
Of course, ignoring that these people are trying
to sell books, garner ratings and push political agendas, the whole
fracas is somewhat overblown.
While they toil to make grand conspiracy out of
isolated and ridiculously small misunderstandings and policy the fact is
there is no real indication that Christmas is even marginally under
attack. A close look at some of the "acts of war" illustrates how
misleading their claims are. Briefly, a parade in Denver, Colorado,
called "Parade of Lights", is generally about an hour long and for years
has included certain floats. Because of its abbreviated length it has,
over the years, rejected scores of applicants wishing to add floats.
This year, like others, it rejected applicants, one of whom happened to
be a religious-themed entrant. This is, according to those advocating
the war premise, evidence of aggression. A second popular item this year
is the United States Postal Service's decision not to print "Madonna and
Child" stamps in 2006 a fact that is causing much consternation among
the pro-Christmas factions. The details are rather mundane however.
Because of an overstock the USPS is simply selling off the excess
without printing more. You can, in fact, order the stamps from the USPS
web site.
Two other aspects of this conflict are worth
scrutiny- the use of "happy holidays" as a replacement for "merry
Christmas" and the synonym "holiday tree" for "Christmas tree". Neither
of these may strike the reasonable person as formal acts of war, but to
our trusty culture warriors they are hand grenades lobbed at the essence
of what Christmas truly must be for all people. Taking the tree issue
first, a little history might be in order. Way back in the days of
vikings the oak tree was associated with the god Oden or Woden. So the
whole tree as metaphor for god is a pagan idea, and despite the all the
weight of tradition, there is nothing inherently religious about the
Christmas tree. Calling it a holiday tree can't detract from the
christian origins of Christmas because it's just not a christian symbol,
it's secular.
Ridiculous to the extreme is the controversy over
saying "happy holidays" in place of "merry Christmas", particularly in
retail stores. To be technical, unless it actually is Christmas day it
is the "holiday season", and therefore the phrase is more timely. But
even more compelling is the mathematical argument: 20% of americans have
beliefs outside the Christian faith, and all of them have some kind of
celebration on or around the time of Christmas, including the new year.
That is one of every five customers in the stores the purveyors of the
Christmas war say are treasonable to the season. Why would a retailer
use a phrase that one fifth of the time had no meaning when he or she
could use a phrase that had meaning 100% of the time? Let's face it
retail stores at Christmas are hardly sacred places. What they do is
look to make a profit that will offset slower times of the year. Is it
really worth worrying about how wether or not they are using a
particular phrase?
To take it a step further, suppose a boycott
results in a change of policy, and salespeople start saying "Merry
Christmas". Has the spirit of Christmas been upheld, or has blackmail
caused the store or stores to use a phrase it thinks will make it more
money? Where, in heaven's sake, is the traditional meaning in THAT? Sure
the clerk says, "Merry Christmas" but what he is really saying is, "I
got your money, so whatever."
What is more infuriating to me, personally, is
that there are a few so-called "traditionalists" out there who have
created a controversy out of a few events and used it to stoke their
agendas and ratings. Should we now be asking them, is the proper time to
open presents on Christmas eve, or Christmas morning? What should we
serve for Christmas dinner so that we are not affronting the true
meaning and spirit of Christmas? Where, in short, does this war truly
begin and end? Using Christmas to manipulate anger and fear is not what
I have always believed the Christmas season to be about, and I doubt
many of you have either. If peace on Earth, goodwill to man, has any
real meaning, rather than listen to these bloviators, we'll turn from
their messages, offer whatever greetings we deem appropriate, and bask
in the good will of the season, unconcerned, finally, with the
differences between us, and celebrating our shared humanity.