Our family loves to watch the wonderful 1947 film, Miracle on 34th Street, during the Christmas season. In the story, the actual Kris Kringle (a.k.a. Santa Claus) comes to New York City to rescue Christmas from rampant commercialism and a depressing loss of faith. Famous Welsh actor Edmund Gwenn plays Kris Kringle, opposite beautiful Maureen O’Hara – the jaded, realism-only Macy’s store executive, Doris Walker, who “hasn’t believed in anything for years.” With the help of Doris’s suitor Fred Gailey (actor John Payne) and daughter Susan Walker (adorable nine-year-old Natalie Wood), Kris restores the Christmas Spirit of the entire city, including Mrs. Walker.
Today we need Kris Kringle more than ever. Sometime between 1947 and now, Christmas became a 4-letter word in America. I don’t mean the abbreviation, Xmas, but the actual name of the day commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. It has become unwelcome in public discourse.
What we used to call the Christmas Season is now The Holidays, causing the greeting Merry Christmas – once spoken by every clerk, doorman, or neighbor during December – to become Happy Holidays. Before Donald Trump’s election, I wondered if public mention of Christmas might vanish entirely.
Courts have banned Christmas symbols from government-controlled spaces, including “government” schools. (Weren’t they once our schools?) A rich cultural heritage of Christmas celebration and meaning – passed down over centuries to communities and families – is being officially un-remembered in the nation that once wrote the book on religious freedom.
How did we lose Christmas? Can we get it back? And do we want to? These questions are worth examining. Christian symbols and values are being purged, wholesale, from the public life of the Republic. The de-Christianization of America is nearly complete. The jury is still out on whether we are too far gone to recover.
But wasn’t it just after the 9/11 attacks that the President, his cabinet, the Congress, Justices of the Supreme Court, and others gathered to worship in the Washington Cathedral? Do we remember how they sought God’s mercy and guidance? “O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come…” sang the mighty of our land in a stirring chorus of faith and unity.
Did they mean the God of the Bible? The same God whose Commandments are now verboten in an Alabama courthouse? The God whose son’s birth established Christmas, but whose name is now considered offensive if spoken in any way except profanely?
Yes, it was that God. We usually remember Him when the bad guys are coming down the chimney. God has imprinted Himself on our nation. He made us what we are. We seek Him – not Buddha, Allah or Vishnu – in times of crisis because, deep down, we know He is the Real Deal.
How – notwithstanding all this – did we lose the name and public celebration of Christmas? As with many things, we lost it by neglect – by not being vigilant, by not caring, by not contending for it. We lost it by not wanting to “make a scene.”
Should similar attempts be made to suppress any aspect of Judaism, I can assure my readers (being part-Jewish myself) that we should never hear the end of it. Polite civility would be discarded, as outraged Jews united against this tyranny. (Through bitter experience they have learned not to keep silent in the face of oppression.)
But Christians are meek and polite. They don’t want to offend anyone. (Such nice people.) So they remained mute while the great traditions, symbols and names of their faith were surgically extracted by unaccountable courts. And our elected representatives sat idle, claiming that these matters are “out of their hands.”
The courts are a sore point with Christians. The U. S. Supreme Court has waged a 50-year assault on both the Constitution and Christianity. Liberals praise the rulings as “boldly progressive,” while politicians and pundits avoid mentioning that state legislatures and the Congress can restrict the purview of state and Federal courts, but have not done so. Matters are not, in fact, out of their hands. Only the political will to deflect the mailed fist of the courts is lacking.
That will must come from us. It’s what government of the people, by the people, and for the people means. And it answers the question of how we can regain free exercise of our faith – including reinstatement of Christianity and Christmas to their place of honor. At the end of the day, the proverbial Buck stops with us.
No Deliverer will regain Christmas for us. We don’t have Deliverer-government. We have republican government (note the small “r”) – where laws are passed by elected representatives, and approved by the executive. It is an ungainly system. Enactment of controversial law is very difficult to achieve.
The Founders knew, however, that the Wild Card in the governmental “deck” is the people. Only We the People can exert enough pressure to make the Congress (or state legislatures) pass protective legislation that restricts the purview of the courts. Only the people can give legislative bodies the backbone needed to defeat the courts’ unopposed, 50-year deconstruction of our society’s religious traditions.
This is the “polite” solution to the Christmas problem. It’s how the nice people change things they believe are wrong in our society. But people on the political left don’t do this. When they’re upset about something, they hit the streets. They knock things over. They burn cars and buildings, get arrested and have to be carried away. And they keep on until they get results.
Leftists don’t mind disobeying the law. If they disagree with legislation or a court ruling, they simply ignore it. California Initiative #209, prohibiting racial bias in state hiring and university admissions, is ignored by liberals who believe the ruling was wrong-headed and “immoral.” A UC Berkeley prof said 209 preserved “…long-standing advantages of the white population.”
Similarly, California educators who favor bilingual education have resisted Initiative #227, which severely limits bilingual programs in schools. They ignore studies clearly showing that students learn better in an English-immersion environment. For people this committed, a contrary legislative or judicial result is not the end. It’s only the beginning of a long campaign of resistance, disobedience and subversion, leading to final triumph. Even the result of a presidential election can be resisted, as we are seeing today.
When the nice people step out of character to become activists, the establishment is shocked and outraged, as an incident during the 2000 Presidential election Florida Recount demonstrated. A crowd of white-collar demonstrators invaded a county office building where a controversial recount was underway: no violence, but a lot of noise. Intimidated officials halted the recount.
Evidently, about 100 Florida people had decided at breakfast that morning that they had to do something to stop the election from being stolen. A handful of people willing to raise hell (that’s a religious term) probably saved Florida (and the presidency) for George Bush. Reporters were alarmed by well-dressed demonstrators – they called them “rioters” – shouting and waving signs. How dare those Republicans use tactics that belong to the left? How dare they care enough to make a scene?
This brings us to the third (and key) question: do we really want to reclaim free exercise of Christianity – symbolized by Christmas – in America? It recalls something my old coach said: “Saying you want to win is easy. It’s also meaningless. The real question is: what are you willing to do?” How much we want something dictates what we are willing to do to get it.
In AD 2017, being nice and working politely through the system might not be enough. If Christians don’t like society’s treatment of their faith – and they shouldn’t – they will have to compute how much they care and decide what they are prepared to do. They can take a lesson from civil rights activists, too. During the last 60 years, blacks worked hard to change a social system biased against them. They didn’t care how many nasty names people called them; they weren’t nice; and they didn’t give up.
To reverse the elimination of Christianity from public life, Christians will have to do more than leave the fight to “others” and hope for the best. We are the others. If we do nothing, things will slide inexorably downward. And if we’re worried about losing our “niceness,” we might consider that had Christians relied on the “nice” approach in the 1860s, blacks might still be chopping cotton down south. There is a time to contend for great issues.
If things continue unchanged, public school students in 2070 will have no clue that America was founded on Christian principles and had a strong Christian framework for 170 years. All mention of this will be missing from history texts. Many students will not know what Christianity is, but will know all about Islam, Wickam, Kwanza, etc. December will be a charming season of lighted trees, red-suited elves, sleighs, and gifts. The name, Jesus Christ, will be used profanely, but few will know who He was (and is).
Indifferent secular Americans with their surgically implanted Iphones – busily tracking their investments, driving SUVs, and watching their giant-screen TVs – might have think that dismantling the nation’s Christian framework is no big deal. But they are mistaken.
Removing prayer from the schools was our first wake-up call. Then came abortion on demand. Rabidly defended by fanatics who see infanticide as a “woman’s choice,” it has destroyed 50 million children over 45 years. Court-legalized sodomy was next. It usurped communities’ right to establish moral standards. And now we have the court-ordered oxymoron of “gay marriage.”
Over the horizon: polygamy. Then perhaps legal sex between adults and children – the goal of organizations like The North American Man-boy Love Association (NAMBLA). After that, who knows? Christian broadcasting banned from the airwaves? The Bible labeled hate literature? Workers fired for religious speech? Bakers prosecuted for not baking a cake for a gay wedding? (Oops, sorry. That’s already happened.)
Hopefully, no Christians are still saying, ‘that’s ridiculous.’ It’s here. It’s happening. It’s a nightmare we can’t awaken from. No objective standard remains to stem the tidal wave of degeneracy. The Bible is an “outdated book,” and the Constitution just a “scrap of paper” subject to the Supreme Court’s dominion.
Christmas is more than a nostalgic link with our past. It’s not about a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. National celebrations of Christmas signaled that we were a “nation whose God is the Lord.” Our faith in the Babe of Bethlehem produced care for the needy, protection for the helpless, defense of the oppressed. It inspired civility, decency, generosity, order and safety. It was the Breastplate of Righteousness, the terrible, swift sword of justice. It was the Breath of the Lord that melted all the hosts of the wicked.
Who (or what) will replace God, Christmas and the Faith of our Fathers? Christian apologist G. K. Chesterton warned of a dangerous future. He said when people stopped believing in God they wouldn’t believe in nothing, but would believe in anything. That time is here.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)
25 comments
I find it weird to even see this story during this year, as it is the first time in many years I have seen CHRISTmas alive and well…. on billboards, tv and radio ads, print ads, etc. Seems everyone has put the “holidays” on hold for CHRISTmas. I for one love it. Hope this puts an end to 8 years of shameful neglect as we spread good wishes, good tidings and the news of the birth of the Saviour for all, Jesus Christ back to the forefront. Merry CHRISTmas to all, and God’s blessings this new year.
Can you explain something to me? I doubt anyone from either party is going to deny that one the biggest liars of all time is now in the White House. Trump having defeated another of the better know liars of at least this generation. So, how does it work giving credit to one of the biggest liars in the history of the planet, glorifying Christ by bringing back Christmas? How’s that work? Got any Bible verses to shed light on this situation?
Obama celebrated muslim holy days and was quite proud about it. His neglect of Christian holy days goes straight to his 2012 convention where the delegates rejected God in the platform. All Trump has done is remind Christians that it is more than acceptable to support the Christ in Christmas.
Look at how much Obama hated Christmas!
Lol…your comment clearly shows your hatred towards Trump. Funny, I can’t seem to find Trump’s name in my post. Perhaps the absence of B.O. helped push CHRISTmas along this year! If it is a Biblical answer you seek, the best way to find it may be to open a Bible.
I assume that you don’t argue that Christianity should have special protections under the law in the United States versus other relgions? For instance, I am ok with the mayor of Glencoe, Alabama flying a Christian flag because they are a “good Christian town” if you are ok with Hamtramck flying an Islamic flag above their town hall? Deal?
Islam isn’t a religion. It is an ideology. What is most troubling is that Americans have been sold the idea that Islam is a religion when a simple examination of its tenets reveals that it is a complete governmental, legal, and cultural system underpinned by religious teachings.
The same could be said for most any religion. Heck, the most successful government, legal, and cultural system to date was Christian. Does not change the fact that Christianity should not have special status under the law.
No, the same could not be said for most any religion. Islam was created by a warlord who slaughtered his way through Arabia and North Africa. Christianity came from a man who preached love and forgiveness, and died on the cross at the hands of a violent government.
There is a distinct difference between an ideology and a religion. That is why Freedom OF Religion, not freedom of ideology, is in the Bill of Rights.
Ideology has been in use in English since the end of the 18th century and is one of the few words whose coiner we can identify. The French writer A. L. C. Destutt de Tracy proposed it as a term to designate the “science of ideas,” and in that sense the word was quickly borrowed into English. Though ideology originated as a serious philosophical term, within a few decades it took on connotations of impracticality thanks to Napoleon, who used it in a derisive manner. Today, the word most often refers to “a systematic body of concepts,” especially those of a particular group or political party.
Christianity has historically been the basis of wholesale slaughter so, really don’t try to draw that distinction. Ideology is a system of ideals especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy. You don’t think Christianity has formed the basis of economic and political theory and policy historically? Come on now I am sure you are more knowledgeable than that!! Islam is a religion (honestly you are being idiotic to suggest otherwise) just like any other. The fact that you want to vilify Muslims is really quite disturbing, btw. You are the quintessential right winger and are the problem with our world today. Please crawl back into your hole and fester.
I am sorry, but Islam is not a religion. It is, however, the source of almost all religion associated violence in the modern world. Here is but one example:
Knife crime in Germany has rocketed. Compared with the 2007 figure of 350 knife crimes there were 3,500 such incidents in the first ten months of 2017, that is to say, as many each month as for the whole of 2007, or more than 10 per day.
All religions have had the violent periods. Christianity certainly did but that doesn’t make it fundamentally violent. The separation of church and state was dominant even when the Popes had great secular power. Islam has no such distinction, quite the opposite. I would suggest you go to Paris and experience the combination of martial law and an islamic no-go zone. You need an education.
You rewrite history to justify your invalid argument that practice of the Islamic religion is not protected under the a Constitution. It is a religion and it’s practice is protected under the Constitution. You lie in order to justify your desire to promote Christianity to an exclusively protected status under the law so that you can discriminate and legislate against those who hold other beliefs with impunity. Luckily, you unAmerican right wingers will fail, always.
Well, the Constitution isn’t a suicide pact. Per your argument, the internment of enemy combatants shouldn’t happen. The Japanese revered their Emperor as a God, thus a religious concept within the State ideology.
I know of no action to ban atheists, buddhists, jews, hindus, or even muslims who are citizens. Allowing unvetted and unvettable muslims from specific warring nations into the country is simply asking for another terrorist attack.
Freedom of religion is an individual right under the Constitution. Ben Franklin funded all kinds of religious institutions other than Christian institutions. You simply hate Christianity for some reason – probably went to some sociology courses at a local college and got indoctrinated. You sound like one of those SJW snowflakes.
Nope, not going to let you lie. I have no hate for Christianity. I am a Christian myself. I hate those who wish to promote Christianity to an exclusively protected religion and deny that protection to other religions through lies as you attempted above.
“I know of no action to ban atheists, buddhists, jews, hindus, or even muslims who are citizens.”
Good. Let’s keep it that way (glad to see that you are now accepting Islam as a religion – also noticed you still think the right to practice one’s religion freely has something to do with whether one is an American citizen or not – it doesn’t).
Twisting my words is not going to change anything. What the shame here is your lack of intellectual curiosity. You obviously know nothing about political Islam, historical Islam, and even modern Islamic practices in Muslim dominated countries.
I doubt your claim to be a Christian. There is no attempt to make Christianity into a specially protected religion even though the founders were almost all Christians. They had suffered religious persecution and wanted freedom of (not from) religion.
We are discussing religion in America. You wish to reframe the debate so that you can vilify an entire religion and its adherents. Please note that it is you who took issue with my drawing an equivalency between a Christian mayor wishing to fly a Christian flag at the town hall (which actually happened) and a Muslim community conceptually wishing to fly a Muslim flag (which did not happen). I had no problem with either as I said as long as both are allowed. It was you who wished to categorize Islam as a non-religion with the direct implication that Christianity would be afforded a state- sponsored place of prominence above another religion. In otherwords, I said both or neither should be allowed, you said Christianity is a special religion that warrants special status under the law. It doesn’t. You are wrong.
Well, as I previously stated, you lack intellectual curiosity and prefer to spout leftist talking points. Until you can conduct a reasoned and fact based discussion, this goes nowhere. Again, I suggest you seriously study Islamic practices, particular in modern Europe.
Islam is a fully protected religion in the US and you obviously hate this. You lose. Goodbye.
Now that is funny. You lefties have been busily destroying freedom of religion — and have the audacity to claim that religion is fully protected. Then you go on to specifically site Islam, an ideology that is opposed to the Constitution, as fully protected. You must be a European bureaucrat.
In this country, Islam is a fully protected religion (as is Christianity and every other religion under the sun). None of your unAmerican propaganda can change this fact. You hate this because you do not believe in our Constitution and the right to practice one’s religion. Your goal is to destroy the US. Traitor.
Eric – Please answer this question with no obfuscation or hem-hawing. Do Christians in Islamic countries have full and EQUAL rights of citizenship as Muslims do? And speak in general terms, no just focusing on the few Potemkin village cases. For example, in Pakistan, can a Catholic man marry an Islamic woman?
Yes, Mark, God gave all people the same rights. That their government does not recognize those rights is terrible indeed.
Really? God gave all people the same rights? So, being a dhimmi in an Islamic country means having the same rights as a Muslim? And after all, isn’t it the Koran and not the government which proscribes second class citizenship for dhimmis? have friends who are Pakistani Catholics and Egyptian Coptic Christians. And they tell a FAR, FAR different story. It is the religion of Islam that motivates the government to take away rights of the non-Muslim in these Islamic run countries.