December 25, 2004
Column #1,217
Let's Put Christ Back in Christmas
This Christmas Christians are fed up with the removal of
Christ from Christmas. They are fighting back, and they are winning some
battles.
"People are tired of the growing number of cases by
ACLU attorneys," said Family
Research Council President Tony Perkins. "When they take Christmas Carols
out of
schools, we are robbed of the joy of Christmas. Our folks have been isolated
by the media
and made to feel their values are out of sync. Christmas is part of our heritage. It's who we
are, what we grew up with.
"It is called Christmas, not Buddhamas."
Last Christmas Pastor George Morrison of Faith Bible
Chapel in Denver took his family to see the Denver Parade of Lights and
noticed, "There was an absolute absence
of anything related to the birth of Christ." He thought that a mistake
had been made. In
spring he called the Denver Downtown Partnership and offered to have his
church create a float this Christmas.
"What kind of a float do you have in mind?" they asked.
"I'd have a choir singing Christmas carols, some
of which might be Latino American or
African American, and a banner that says "Merry Christmas."
"We don't allow any religious themes. No 'Merry
Christmas' or singing of carols.'"
The pastor was "shocked." He called the religious
writer for the Rocky Mountain News, who checked into it and found that one
float featured a "Two Spirit Society," a
group of gay and lesbian American Indians. Another float displayed Chinese
in a dance of the Lion to "ward off evil spirits."
"I am doubly offended," Pastor Morrison replied.
"Christians can't celebrate Christmas
but other religious groups can participate." This outrageous double
standard was exposed three days before the parade and became the lead story
on TV and radio. My son, Adam,
interviewed Pastor Morrison on his San Antonio radio station, KSLR, and
posted the names, addresses, phone numbers and emails of the leaders of the
Denver Downtown Partnership on his website.
Sheepishly, the Partnership's leaders asked to meet the
Pastor on Monday. He agreed, but recruited the Chancellor of the Catholic
Archdiocese to join him. Reinforcements
were not needed. The Partnership's Chairman said, "We are changing our
policy. We will
let you in next year."
In Pasco County, Florida county officials ordered a
nighttime removal of Christmas trees from libraries, recreation and
community centers to avoid "more public controversy." The American
Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) called local officials and told them
"The acts of censorship you are engaging in are unconstitutional."
The county replied, "This is not a decision by Pasco
County...It is a decision previously
made by the Supreme Court and we are obliged to follow the law." The ACLJ
retorted that the assertion was not factually correct. The Supreme
Court never took a position on
Christmas trees; It did say nativity scenes can be displayed in public areas
without violating
the Constitution.
The Christmas trees are back up in Pasco County.
The fight seems to be everywhere. The Broward and
Fashion malls in South Florida put up a Hanukah menorah but no nativity
scene. School children in Lake County, IL
were barred from singing Christmas Carols on the bus. In Kirkland, WA, a
production of
Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" was halted. Mustang, OK school
officials banned the singing of Silent Night.
But the battle is beginning to turn. When Target Stores
told the Salvation Army it could
no longer collect donations in sidewalk pots, costing millions in donations,
Wal*Mart announced the Salvation Army was welcome at its stores which would
donate up to $1 million to match individual gifts.
In North Carolina Pastor Pat Wooden of the Upper Room
Church of God said,
"It is time for born again people to come out of the closet. There is
power at the cash
register." Dillards Department store clerks pointedly wish a "Merry
Christmas" to shoppers and saw their sales rise.
Charles Krauthammer, a Jewish columnist, deplored
pettifoggers who "strip Christmas of any Christian content...Are we to
pretend that Christmas is nothing but an orgy of commerce in celebration
of...what? The winter solstice?
"I'm struck by the fact that you almost never find
Orthodox Jews complaining about a
Christmas creche in the public square. That is because their children,
steeped in the richness of their own religious tradition, know who they are
and are not threatened by
Christians celebrating their religion in public. They are enlarged by it."
"Merry Christmas. To all," wrote Krauthamer.
Amen.
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