EDITORIAL The ‘war’ on Christmas is never won
Amid the Christmas tree costumes, Santa hats and festive sweaters that get pulled out of the closet once a year, there’s another piece of Christmas apparel on the market this year.
It’s a T-shirt depicting the Grinch with a Trumpian tuft of hair above the following legend: “Make Christmas Great Again.”
Any 5-year-old who finds a lavish spread of gifts under the tree on Dec. 25 will tell you that the greatness of the holiday is beyond dispute. But, presumably, this T-shirt is another manifestation of the alleged “War on Christmas” that has become as much a holiday staple as mistletoe and watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Christmas Eve.
It wouldn’t be Christmas in the United States in the 21st century without a “war” being waged on it.
Before he was ousted due to an avalanche of sexual harassment allegations, Fox News Channel host Bill O’Reilly regularly beat the “War on Christmas” drums, bringing to light any incident where some beleaguered soul might have had to endure hearing “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” in a shopping mall. A couple of years ago, one customer was worked into a state of high dudgeon when Starbucks did not put the word “Christmas” on its holiday cups.
Of course, most people who have actual lives don’t spend their time obsessing about how they are greeted in department stores. A Pew Research Center poll last year found that more than half of Americans don’t care if they are addressed by something other than “Merry Christmas” when they are navigating their local shopping center.
O’Reilly might now be absent from the Fox News Channel, but the network is keeping the “war” alive. It recently reported on a man who won a skirmish in this epic conflict when he defied a demand by his homeowner’s association that he tone down a display of Christmas lights that could probably be seen from outer space.
When, oh, when, will victory in this war finally be declared?
Actually, Christmas won a long, long, long time ago. Puritans once turned up their noses at Christmas, believing it was nothing more than a celebration of licentiousness and debauchery. Celebrating Christmas was outlawed in Massachusetts in the 1600s, with one Presbyterian minister opining that it was an occasion for “sinning, sexuality, luxury, various forms of extravagance …” Even when these scolding Scrooges were off the scene in the 1800s, Dec. 25 was a day just like any other, with people reporting to their workplaces and otherwise going about their lives. It was only in 1870 that Christmas was made a national holiday, along with New Year’s Day and the Fourth of July.
What would our ancestors have thought about how we celebrate Christmas now, and the billions of dollars we unload at retailers?
And let’s not forget that there are other holidays being celebrated in December, like Hanukkah and Bodhi Day for Buddhists. “Happy Holidays” covers them all.
Given how divided and angry we have become over the last few years, we could use a little less war on Christmas and a little more peace on Earth and goodwill to men. Right this very minute.