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‘Tis the Season for Political Correctness
What happened to Christmas?…
[J. F. Kelly, Jr.] 12/15/05

I usually write a Christmas commentary at this time of year with the intent of promoting, in my small way, good will and peace on earth. But it often ends up as a cranky criticism of the commercialization and secularization of Christmas by those determined to strip Christmas of its true meaning in an effort to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings by causing them to feel left out.

This year, however, the radio talk show hosts are way ahead of me. They have mounted an aggressive and apparently effective campaign to restore Christmas to its rightful place as a celebration of the birth of Christ. They have mounted a campaign to urge listeners to boycott businesses that do not mention Christmas in their advertising. Among their victories was a recent agreement by Target to use the term “Christmas” in their ads. Economic pressure usually works.

I consider myself pro-business and I’m generally leery of boycotts or anything else that hurts business. The Christmas season is serious stuff for retailers. The six weeks of the Christmas shopping season often mean the difference between a profitable year and an unprofitable one. Still, businesses also have to understand that that in the culture wars that so preoccupy our country today, almost every decision has consequences. Sometimes in trying to appease vocal minority positions, you end up alienating the silent majority.

Christmas is a Christian religious holy day, one of the two holiest days of the year in the Christian calendar. America was founded by Christians, many of whom had come here to escape religious persecution. So determined were they that the practice of religion in their new country would be free of government regulation, that they wrote into our Constitution language that prohibited the government from passing any laws that would restrict the free practice of religion or result in the establishment of a state religion.

As in so many other examples of distorting the Constitution to reflect trendy notions of political correctness and inclusion, these provisions have suffered from tortured interpretations. Reference to Christmas in government pronouncements or the display of religious symbols in public buildings or on public land was held by some to constitute official endorsement of religion. This would be a valid concern, perhaps, if such actions constituted endorsement of a particular religion or excluded a particular religion. But Christianity, which derived from Judaism, is not a specific religion and includes many denominations. Christians, who still constitute the overwhelming majority of Americans, have been celebrating the birth of Christ since the very beginning of our nation. It is part of the country’s traditions. Recent attempts to purge Christmas from public life for fear of offending non-Christians are seen by many Christians as, not only unnecessary, but actually offensive and disrespectful to their religion

Christmas to them is not primarily about Frosty or Rudolph or maxing out credit cards in a binge of overspending. Santa, of course, has his place and presents are always welcome but the reason for the season, quite simply, is Christ. It’s wonderful that other religions also have important observances at the same time of year and each of them deserves respect and reverence in pubic as well as in private but not by combining them all together into one politically correct, amorphous and all-inclusive “holiday season”. Many Christians believe, with some justification, that this dishonors Christmas and robs this holy day of its significance.

So I applaud the campaign to restore Christmas to its rightful place on the national scene. It is too joyous an occasion to be stripped of its religious significance or to be reduced to a sterile, all-purpose holiday. When I wish people of other religions or no religion a Merry Christmas, I mean them no disrespect and I take none when they return the greeting in their own way.

So Merry Christmas and peace on earth, good will toward men—I mean people.-one-

copyright 2005 J. F. Kelly, Jr.

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