By Douglas V. Gibbs
The delicious smells of Christmas is in the air. Cookies and Pine. Sugar and spice. Christmas Trees, strapped on the roofs of tiny sedans, blowing in the wind as they proceed up the road. Children's seasonal artwork covers the face of refrigerators, bulletin boards, and kitchen tables. Santa Claus, appearing in all shapes and sizes and colors, is ringing his bells and ho-ho-ho-ing around the stores, malls, and gathering centers. Candles line mantles, with stockings hung with care, and sparkling Christmas decorations glittering and blinking is a fun-filled festive fashion. Flashing lights hang from the eaves, blow-up Santas and snowmen wave to passersby, and Nativity Scenes line the streets. Churches are hosting various Christmas concerts and plays, the Charlie Brown Christmas Special is ready to play on the television, and retail clerks smile and offer "Merry Christmas" as the shoppers scoot out the door.
Except, much of that is not true anymore.
It is no longer permissible to wish anyone "Merry Christmas." It is insensitive, we are told. It is offensive. Christianity, the purveyors of political correctness explain, is exclusive and is not the only reason for the season. Never mind that God welcomes everyone into His Fold, through Christ, regardless of past sins - all one must do is accept His Mercy.
Anything traditional, Christian, or not liberal, is the target. The war rages in all States, and in all of the Western Countries. Christmas is under attack, and has been for some time. Statism seeks to eliminate all traditional representations of Christmas, from secular icons such as the Christmas Tree and Santa Claus, to the Christian representations such as Christmas Carols and Nativity Scenes. They seek to eliminate Christmas, itself.
Christmas is under siege from people whose religion is political correctness, and leftism. They are a minority, a small segment of American Society. The true liberal left loonies is less than 12% of the population. But they have convinced everyone that even if one person is offended, it must be stopped, it must be silenced, it must be eliminated - and that it is the job of the government to force those that dare disagree into silence. Any sign of Christmas, or utterance of "Merry Christmas," opens one up to complaints, litigation, angry protests, threats, and worse. And the anti-Christmas mob gets away with it, because we do not stand up to them, and say, "Enough is enough."
Around America, retail workers are being told, "We don't say 'Merry Christmas,' it has to be 'Happy Holidays.'" A person close to me, that works in retail, told me her co-workers are even being 'written up' for saying "Merry Christmas." So, this individual, who is a longtime, and well respected, employee of a major retail department store, decided to take matters into her own hands.
Fearless, she says "Merry Christmas" to every customer she comes across. "What are they going to do? Fire me?"
But what if someone is offended?
"If they are offended, that is their problem. I don't get offended. If I don't agree with you, so be it. I am tired of all of the whining and crying. Buck up, and handle it. If you don't like it, don't shop in America."
Management has spoken to her many times, not only because of her insistence to say "Merry Christmas," but because now she has all of the women in her "high-end women's clothing" department saying "Merry Christmas," too. She grinned, when I asked her about this. "What are they going to do? Fire an entire, experienced, department, during the shopping season they need us most?"
She told me that so far she has not experienced an offended customer. In fact, most of the customers go out of their way to thank her for saying, "Merry Christmas," rather than "Happy Holidays."
"And if enough people take a stand," she told me, "and people get loud enough - including the appreciative customers, we can beat this thing. When I am a customer, I always greet the retail people with 'Merry Christmas,' and usually they look around, as if afraid (as if the Gestapo is watching), before they smile and return the greeting."
A war is being waged, and a counter-revolution must be in gear to stop the madness. The war is an offensive one, led by secularists, humanists, and well-funded cultural relativists. They believe America is evil as founded, and that the Christian majority must be silenced by any means necessary. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Americans for the Separation of Church and State provide the muscle for these anti-Christmas radicals. These are people that celebrate sexual perversion in our society, and support the murder of unborn babies, yet they cannot bring themselves to allow Christians to celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ. The Leftists claim Christians desire an oppressive theocracy in America, and threaten any public official that dares even refer to Christmas in any way in a public place - for that would be placing Christianity in the public square - and that just cannot be "tolerated."
"Keep your religion inside the four walls of your church," they say, as they threaten the churches if they dare preach on anything considered political, including homosexuality. "Christianity needs banning," they tell us, "for it is dangerous to a free society. . . therefore, Christmas needs banning, as well."
Freedom of Speech, like Freedom of religion, has become a privilege, according to the Leftists that infest government like a voracious parasite. There are no rights to speech and religion. The appearance of anything Christian in view of anyone that can possibly be offended is treated like a chemical spill, and according to these folks on the Left, the prevailing opinion is that the cause must be eliminated. Christmas must be neutered, they believe, and Christians must be silenced.
Like my friend in the retail department store, I refuse to accept the common narrative that even using the word "Christmas" is an invitation for a lawsuit. Our right of free speech and the right to the freedom of religious expression, were included in the United States Constitution for a reason. Our faith should not be a 'religious privilege,' granted by the generosity of government. The mere idea that government has any hand in our right to the free exercise of religion suggests that our freedom of religion is government-granted, rather than a freedom that is God-given.
The Founding Fathers were concerned about the possibility of what we are seeing today. They feared that the inclusion of language, such as the current myth of the Separation of Church and State, would open the door for government to 'regulate' religious practices, language, and even question the very presence of Christmas in our society. Such language would open a Pandora's Box that could lead to government officials wrongly believing that they were the 'grantors' of the freedom of religious expression. Such a belief by government would then give them the alleged authority to regulate it.
Thomas Jefferson was very critical of government intrusion into religious expression. In his letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, as well as his writings in the Kentucky Resolution of 1798, and his participation in disestablishing the official church in Virginia in 1786, he explained that the goal was not to protect government from religion, but to protect the free exercise of faith from government. The philosophy marched hand in hand with the concept of keeping the "State" limited, and at arm's length from regulating or punishing religious practices and expressions. This idea, in fact, was deeply embedded in American Thinking. Religious Freedom was, and is, a focal point of American History. Jefferson believed the federal government had no authority to interfere with, limit, regulate, or prohibit public religious expressions. In fact, none of the founders gave the slightest hint that they believed religion should be removed from the public square, or that the square should be secularized. The religious freedom clauses in the U.S. Constitution were put there for the purpose of trying to keep government from darkening the doors of the church.
As Alexis DeToqueville found in his visit to the United States in the 1830s, the politicians prayed, and the pastors preached politics, but government did not control the church, and the church did not control government. They were symbiotic, in America. A concept foreign to Europeans.
As far as Jefferson, or any of the other founders, were concerned, the only time government should be involved in religious matters would be if religious expression were acts "against peace and good order, injurious to others, subversive to good order," or acts by "the man who works ill to his neighbor." In other words, things like Islamic jihad, the attempt to implement Sharia law in the place of the laws of the host country, or the disruptive "call to prayer" from loud speakers.
We have ways to win the war against Christianity, but it takes thinking outside the box, and not responding to everything in a reactive manner. Such as in the case of a high school football team that was told the banner they burst through at the beginning of a game could no longer have a Bible Verse on it. In response, aside from the ensuing court case, the folks in the stands showed up with signs, each with a different verse on them, or a positive Christian message, as the players rushed onto the field.
So say, "Merry Christmas." Encourage others to do so. We outnumber the tyrants that wish to destroy American Tradition. We are the majority. We are the righteous. It is high time we begin to act like it.
Welcome to The Revolution.
Merry Christmas.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
John Gibson, "The War on Christmas - How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse Than You Thought," New York: SENTINEL (The Penguin Group), 2005.
David Barton, "The Jefferson Lies - Exposing the Myths You've Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson," Nashville: Thomas Nelson (Glenn Beck's Mercury Ink imprint will issue a new edition of the book once the 17,000 remaining copies that Barton bought of the Thomas Nelson edition had been sold. Thomas Nelson withdrew claiming there were historical misrepresentations - which actually confirms the message of the book about how duped we have been regarding the true story of Jefferson), 2012.
Feinstein: First Amendment is a Special Privilege, Not a Right - The Western Center for Journalism
Unprecedented ordinance bans Christians from serving on City Council - BizPac Review
Homosexual Movement's Goal is to Outlaw Christianity - Renew America
Gays admit ENDA game: Outlaw Christian Morality - OneNewsNow
Cheerleaders told no more Bible Verses on Signs - Fox News Radio
Barred From Field, Religious Signs Move to Stands - New York Times
Judge Rules in Favor of Cheerleaders' Religious Banners - ABC News
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