What a difference a year can make.

This same time last year the members of P.E.S.T. fired the first salvo in what is now referred to as the "war" on Christmas. These P.E.S.T.'s where employing a different set of talking points to make their case that somehow Christmas was slowly disappearing from the social landscape. Those that profess to fight against the "social engineering" which promotes ethnic diversity, social medicine are all to ready to throw aside this (deeply held?) belief when they promulgate their policies of social engineering as it pertains to their love of "war." (War. Now there is a social engineering practice that has impacted generations of U.S. families.)

Now that I am insurgent in the war on Christmas I decided to post a short essay that I wrote last year regarding Christmas and what was then referred to as the "left" trying to remove Christ from Christmas. It is rather disturbing to note the change in the rhetoric from last year to today. What a difference a year can make.



Christmas: Is it religious or secular? (Or Fable v. Fable)
12/18/2004

Ah, yet another Christmas season is upon us. And what would Christmas be without a little controversy. There are those that argue that Christmas is about the celebration of Christ’s birth and that there is a portion of the society, referred to as the “left” that seeks to remove Christ from Christmas.

Now I suppose that I could accept that Christmas is just about Christ and is being usurped by the “left.” But before I can start blaming the “left” for what ails society I have a few questions that need to be addressed.

If I am to accept that Christmas is all about Christ, why would I as a devote Christian tolerate the idol worship of one by the name of Santa Claus? And surely as any good Christian I could not tolerate the telling of fables to children in which Santa Claus keeps a list of those naughty and nice to give presents. Nothing says religious holiday like a bearded old man who uses magical reindeer to fly around the world to deliver presents to all the boys and girls who have been good.

Another point of contention that would cause me great concerned if Christmas were just a religious holiday. There is something wrong with knowing that moneychangers across the country celebrate Christ’s birth by cashing-in with the hope and desire of increasing their yearly profits by 50 percent. What better way to acknowledge Christ’s birth than with a little holiday irony?

How is it that you celebrate the birth of Christ in December when he is supposed to be an autumn baby? Would not an autumn birth really devalue the whole notion that Christmas in December is truly a religious celebration?

I wonder how many Christians who are quick to point fingers at others for the removal of Christ from Christmas are equally complicit? How many of those concerned with pointing accusatory fingers at others are themselves enriching the moneychangers? Or share with their children stories of the magic of Santa Claus “and his eight tiny reindeer?”

Now it makes sense why some would express concern with the removal of religious imagery from Christmas, as it is often the ones that live in glass houses that cast the first stone.