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 The “Offense” Gambit
Or, How the “Christmas Wars” Began...
[Carol
Platt Liebau] 12/12/05
During the ‘70’s,
it was in vogue in some circles to denounce the “commercialization” of
Christmas. According to this critique, Americans had allowed
their capitalist society and consumerist culture to overwhelm
the larger spiritual meaning of the season.
Today, we
hear much less from the left about the evils of unbridled commercialism
than we used to. It seems that many of the former critics are
willing to accept widespread consumerism, but under only one
condition: That Santa Claus or Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph
the Red-Nosed Reindeer – rather than the Baby Jesus – serve
as America’s Christmas symbol today.
At long last,
people of faith have been pushing back at new practices that
seem intent on extracting every scintilla of religious meaning
from “the holiday.” Accordingly, the media has
been humming with stories about the “Christmas wars.”
Contributor
Carol Platt Liebau - Senior
Columnist
Carol
Platt Liebau is editorial director and a senior
member of tOR and CRO editorial
boards. She is an attorney, political analyst
and commentator based in San Marino, CA, and
has appeared on the Fox News Channel, MSNBC,
CNN, Orange County News Channel, Cox Cable and
a variety of radio programs throughout the United
States. A graduate of Princeton University and
Harvard Law School, Carol Platt Liebau also served
as the first female managing editor of the Harvard
Law Review. Her web log can be found at CarolLiebau.blogspot.com [go
to Liebau index]
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Our language
has become a central front for the battle. Indeed, the word “Christmas” itself is used less frequently
than it used to be. Although the festive decoration of evergreen
trees is a part of no other religious festival, Christmas trees
have now become known as “holiday trees;” similarly,
Christmas music (consisting of songs observing no other celebration)
is now known as “holiday music.” And that’s
just the beginning. All of us have become so sensitized to the
word “Christmas” that one can hear friends – each
known to the other to be Christian – wishing each other “happy
holidays.”
In a country where 96% of Americans celebrate
Christmas in some form, according to a 2003 Fox News/Opinion
Dynamics poll, it’s
worth exploring how “Christmas” has come to be replaced
so quickly in recent years by “holiday.” Underlying
the homogenization of the language, music, decorations and public
observances of Christmas is the concern that those of other faiths – or
of no faith at all – will find religious allusions somehow “offensive.”
The concern is understandable – because,
in recent years, Americans have been informed by some of their
fellows that the
merest hint of religion in the public square is per se provocative
and rude. Interestingly, most vocal purveyors of this point of
view are those who are active and aggressive non-believers, the
kind who not only lack beliefs of their own, but who object to
others having any at all.
Obviously, if these non-believers insisted on
an end to religion in the public square because it “annoyed” or “angered” them,
regular Americans would ignore their demands, or dismiss them
with the derision that they deserved. So some non-believers cleverly
disguised their opposition to religion generally by cloaking
it in the guise of “taking offense.”
Americans – rightly proud of our national history of religious
tolerance and diversity – responded with typical good will,
seeking to eliminate the practices that others found “offensive,” without
really analyzing whether the “offense” was reasonable.
And this response, while praiseworthy for its compassion, has
also been misguided.
For it takes nothing away from an observant Jew
to see Christians celebrating Christmas – any more than Christians are left
bereft by the knowledge that Jews are celebrating Hanukkah, Yom
Kippur or Rosh Hashanah. And if non-believers are so certain
that God doesn’t exist, why should they be so troubled
by the rest of us giving full play to what they see as our delusional
faith in the Almighty?
The true heart of the Christmas is the compassion,
hope and love for others that it is supposed to engender. Those
elements
spring directly from its religious roots. So perhaps, in the
end, what all of us should be hoping for is more emphasis on
the religious aspects of “the holidays,” rather than
less. After all, whether one is wished a “Merry Christmas,” a “Happy
Hanukkah” or a “Blessed Ramadan,” it’s
worth remembering – the greeting is a benediction, not
a curse.
What, pray tell, is so offensive about that? -one-
Columnist
Carol Platt Liebau is a political analyst, commentator and tOR / CRO editorial
director based in San Marino, CA. Ms. Liebau also served
as the first female managing editor of the Harvard Law
Review. Her web log can be found at CarolLiebau.blogspot.com
copyright
2005
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