Is there room for Christmas anymore?:

I am going to post the following in its entirety as the TNR (a true repository for intelligent liberalism) requires registration and some may not want to bother.

The thesis is simple though. Does political correctness and the effort to not annoy non-religious people require us to remove all things religious from Christmas in public? Has it gone overboard? Or is there still too much? If you are athiest or non-religious, do you really object to your child singing "Silent Night" in the school Christmas program? What do you think is the harm?

How Much Christ in Christmas?
by Michelle Cottle

Only at TNR Online

h, the holiday season: a magical time filled with peace, love, joy, and the annual litany of protests, boycotts, and threatened legal action over the degree of religious symbolism permissible in the public square.

Gone are the days when the hot debate was whether Santa or Jesus should be the posterboy for the season--and not just because most everyone has accepted commercialism as the American way. It's more that Santa and Jesus now find themselves on the same side, venerated symbols of a simpler time when December in America was all about Christmas--not Hanukkah, not Kwanzaa, and not some multicultural mishmash exemplified by the almost parodically generic "Season's Greetings."

This year, the traditionalists are reportedly even more exercised than usual, in part because they see W.'s reelection as a mandate to put Christianity--and with it, Christmas--back at center stage. The California-based Committee to Save Merry Christmas, for instance, has called for a boycott of Federated Department Stores (which ironically include Macy's, the chain whose role in the classic "Miracle on 34th Street" made it the retail embodiment of the holiday for millions of Americans) in response to the company's replacement of "Merry Christmas" signs with vaguer messages of "Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays." The organization points boldly to November 2 as proof that such "political correctness is offending millions of Americans."

Similarly, a church in Raleigh, North Carolina, recently took out a full-page newspaper ad calling for Christians to shop only at stores whose holiday displays include the words "Merry Christmas." (The minister explained the move as part of a "revival" in which "right-minded people" are challenging the nation's "downward spiral to the left.") And down in Louisiana, a group in Terrebonne Parish is not only petitioning to have "Merry Christmas" added to the holiday display outside the main government building but is also selling in-your-face yard signs that read: "We believe in God. Merry Christmas."

It's tough to hear about such antics and not immediately think: What a bunch of nutters. For starters, the notion that anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas is a godless leftist makes these folks look like total idiots desperately in need of a beginner's guide to Judaism and Islam. And why do traditionalists so often feel the need to ram their beliefs down everyone's throat? Christmas conservationists are free to fill their homes with gaudily garbed trees (my household typically has two) and sing "Silent Night" on the street corner until their voices fail. But why waste so much energy on a point of semantics? I mean, at this stage, you'd think serious Jesus fans would want to distance themselves from the tinsel-strewn retail vulgarity that Christmas has become.

Even so, I empathize completely with the urge to make this season about something more than shopping orgies and hellish travel. Truth be told, the holidays haven't been the same for me since I abandoned the biblical literalism of my upbringing. (Technically, the slide began when my Sunday School teacher spilled the ugly truth about Santa, but that's a trauma best left unprobed.) Sure, I can appreciate the season as a widely celebrated time of love and sharing and good will. But a more rational, multicultural spin on the holidays just doesn't pack the same gut-level oomph as, say, God becoming flesh to save mankind.

And let's face it, people crave that kind of oomph--magic and mysticism and a faith in some greater meaning and order to the universe. There's a reason nearly 80 percent of Americans believe in angels, and it's not that they're all backward, uneducated bumpkins. Relentless rationalism can be exhausting and depressing, not to mention as annoyingly dogmatic as any religion--only without the ancient symbolism and colorful mythology.

Moreover, it's hardly surprising that the Christmas crazies feel a need to go on the attack. For every traditionalist group looking to erect a crèche at the local Wal-Mart, there's a band of secularist or multicultural watchdogs trying to make sure no one anywhere ever feels the teensiest bit oppressed by the religiosity of the majority. Earlier this year, the Woodland, Illinois, school district moved to prohibit bus drivers from playing Christmas carols on the radio. In Denver, officials were poised to remove the "Merry Christmas" sign from the city's holiday display. In both cases, citizens protested until officials changed their minds. By contrast, in Maplewood, New Jersey, school officials are sticking by their decisions to ban any religious-themed carols--even instrumental versions--from holiday concerts. And at Freedom Elementary School in southern Florida, the holiday pageant has been replaced altogether with a patriotism-themed program. ("There are a lot of rules and regulations out there," the school principal told the local press. "You're trying to be respectful of everyone.") And forget nativity scenes: Even Christmas trees are a no-no in an increasing number of schools.

How sad. In an effort to acknowledge everyone's beliefs, we're creating a climate in which people are too paranoid to allow the expression of anyone's beliefs. Clearly this shouldn't be the case. The courts have already established that the way to handle the issue of religious expression isn't to banish Christmas trees from the public square but to ensure equal access for anyone who might be interested in displaying a menorah or the seven symbols of Kwanzaa or a 30-foot velvet poster of Elvis dressed as the angel Gabriel. (Well, maybe not that last one.)

Basically, everyone needs to unclench and have a cup of frigging eggnog. This is not a slippery-slope issue. A couple of carols sung on school grounds aren't going to lead to mandatory recitation of the Lord's Prayer in math class. And the occasional "Happy Holidays" sign won't open the door to a new era of stoning Christians.

At this point (and I cannot believe I'm saying this) one of the most rational voices on this issue comes from the hit TV series "The O.C." One of the main characters, who hails from an interfaith (Jewish-Protestant) family, has attempted to bridge the cultural gap by declaring a new holiday called Chrismukkah. (Related decorations include a Santa-inspired yarmulke delightfully dubbed a Yarmuclaus.) Stuffed shirts from both the Christian and Jewish communities have huffily objected. But I think the idea is kinda sweet. Tacky, silly, and potentially offensive, but sweet. In the midst of all the bickering and threats and name calling, at least someone out there is trying to find a way to bring peace, love, understanding, and a much-needed sense of humor to the season. Too bad it's only happening on TV.

Michelle Cottle is a senior editor at TNR.
Edited to include link:
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=life&s=cottle121704