It's that time of year again!
The time where right wing news pundits claim that there's a "War on Christmas" and that progressive secularists are the ones waging it. Meanwhile, religious conservatives jump on their soap box and shout to anyone who will listen that Christmas has become too commercialized and that Jesus is the reason for the season.
What do both arguments have in common? They're both wrong! There is no "War on Christmas" and Jesus isn't the reason for the season.
News pundits like Bill O'Reilly claim that there's a "War on Christmas" because Nativity displays are not allowed on government property. He's also upset that some schools or department stores decide to promote a more secular holiday theme than a particular religious one. While it's true that some places decide to go with a more generic holiday theme, is that such a bad thing? Does it make sense that the government promotes one religion over another and shouldn't stores decide how they want to promote its sales?
Government has the obligation to uphold "Separation of Church and State" and although the government has done poorly to uphold many of our constitutional rights, is that reason to ignore this one? Federal, state, and city government must set clear boundaries on this issue. Whether the United States is mostly made up of Christians or not is highly irrelevant. What is relevant is that other people are not believers of the christian faith and having any form of government display one religion's views over another is both wrong and illegal. We are a government of all people. Perhaps that makes government buildings appear less festive, but I'd rather tax dollars go into more important resources despite how small the cost.
As for the outrage against department stores, Bill O'Reilly expressed outrage when he discovered that Wal-Mart greeters were instructed to greet customers with "Happy Holiday" instead of "Merry Christmas." For such a supporter of capitalism, shouldn't O'Reilly support Wal-Mart's decision to be politically correct? After all, customers have a choice. If they don't like Wal-Mart's shyness towards the words "Christmas" then they can shop somewhere else that proudly proclaim the words. There's plenty to select from. Why does O'Reilly feel that places like Wal-Mart should submit to his will?
Other conservative nuts like Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck have followed O'Reilly's crusade to spread the Christmas spirit, making the argument more relevant to their fan base. If you didn't hear about the war from them, you'd never know a war was being waged. Poor Santa.
Santa? Isn't Jesus the reason for the season? Actually, he wasn't. Right wing pundits are too busy going after secularists for hijacking Christmas that they forgot to read a history book or "Google" the origin on internet. Christmas originally came from the Roman Pagans and it was called Saturnalia.
According to Lawrence Keleman, an author at SimpleToRemember.com:
Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the week long celebration. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.
If conservative blowhards want to go back to the true meaning of Christmas, they'll have to go back to its original name of Saturnalia and convert to paganism because the "Lord of Misrule" is the real reason for the season. Not Jesus. Just imagine who Rush Limbaugh would pick as an enemy of the people.
No one is seriously suggesting that people observe such an appalling tradition as Saturnalia. However, people and businesses have the right to celebrate and promote the holiday season anyway they want. They even have the right not to acknowledge any of it and treat it like any other day. Bill O'Reilly and the conservative bunch need to relax and stop imposing their beliefs on everyone else. Let the non-christian make their own decisions on how to handle the holidays. Isn't that good enough for a place that celebrates both personal and religious liberty?
Merry Saturnalia!