Thoughts on “Happy Holidays”

Polls reveal that 96% of Americans celebrate Christmas. How is it “inclusive” to exclude this vast majority? And 90% believe it is the birthday of Jesus. How is it “tolerant” not to tolerate expression of this widely held belief? Liberals claim that our Founders were deists or agnostics who wrote the Constitution to prevent any influence of religion on our public life. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Happy holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”? Insist on it at work. Nativity scenes on city property? Rule them illegal. Salvation Army Santas collecting money for the needy? Kick them out of malls. Carols or Christmas trees in schools? Never! But skeletons and ghouls for Halloween? No problem. The first year West Hollywood, California was incorporated as a city, the city offices were closed on Halloween but open on Christmas Day. What does that tell you?

Then we have the usual complaints about Christmas being commercialized, and that we are deep into “consumerism.” These complaints might be legitimate, if they came from clergy who want to emphasize the spiritual meaning of Christmas. But why do secular liberals make similar complaints? And why do these people never complain that Halloween is too commercialized? After all, Halloween is now our second-largest shopping season. There may be a clue here. Witches and devils? No problem – shop till you drop. But Baby Jesus in the manger? No way!

To quote Tom Piatak: “Giotto never painted a Kwanzaa scene, Bach did not write a Hanukkah oratorio, and Dickens did not pen a Ramadan carol.” Could we at least be a tiny bit grateful for the art, music, and literature inspired by Christianity?

This isn’t the first time that totalitarians tried to ban Christmas. The communists did, and still do in Castro’s Cuba. Most Christmas ornaments are made in China – but are not allowed to be used there. The Nazis replaced Christmas with Julfest, a pagan winter Yule festival. Totalitarians can’t tolerate any Authority higher than themselves. A former conscript in the Nazi SS recalled that he was forced to celebrate not Christmas, but a counterfeit winter holiday concocted by the Nazis:

On Christmas Eve, there was a celebration, not a Christian one, but a pagan German “Julfest.” We were all together and had to sing some trash about the night of the clear stars and other sad substitutes for the true Christmas message.

Those who want to eradicate all signs of our Judeo-Christian heritage imagine that this will lead to a tolerant, secular nation. But the 20th century proved that secular nations can turn out to be anything but tolerant. If you doubt this, study the history of Nazism and communism.

Now we are confronted by the threat of Muslim extremists. If we have no deep beliefs, how can we hope to resist the onslaught of fanatics? Observe what is happening in Western Europe. It would be ironic if the campaign against Christianity results not in “tolerance” and “inclusiveness,” but in an extremist Muslim theocracy.

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, one of the greatest churches in the world, was turned into a mosque. Is it possible that the same thing could happen to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and Westminster Abbey in London? This seems unlikely now, but we shall see – perhaps sooner than we imagine.

Whenever you feel pressured to say “Happy holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” consider these points. But while it is still permitted, may I have the pleasure of wishing you and yours a merry and blessed Christmas!