Arresting Baby Jesus
Knute Berger says it’s time to end the silliness around the annual War on Christmas.
The United States is trying to wind up the war in Iraq and is still fighting a tough campaign in Afghanistan. Rivaling these long conflicts in another quagmire: the annual “War on Christmas.”
Make no mistake, Seattle is often on the front lines of this war. In 2001, then-King County Executive Ron Sims made headlines by telling county workers not to say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah.” In 2006, the Port of Seattle ordered holiday decorations removed from Sea-Tac airport when a local Jewish rabbi asked to display an 8-foot menorah.
That same year, Gov. Chris Gregoire lit a menorah in a ceremony at the state Capitol in Olympia, prompting angry Christians to request a Nativity scene be allowed in the building. In 2007 and 2008, such displays were allowed. Last year, along with the display of Christ, atheists gained national headlines by putting up their own exhibit in the Rotunda proclaiming that religion “hardens hearts and enslaves minds,” a thoughtful holiday sentiment.
The battles have resulted in various casualties. Sea-Tac banned all religious displays and replaced Christmas trees with cardboard birches and fake plastic snowdrifts. (And no, there were no fake plastic Seattle snowplows to sit by idly while the fake snow piled up.) In Olympia, the atheists’ display was kidnapped. And in the height of ignominy, the state Capitol Nativity scene’s figures had to be taken into protective custody because of vandalism fears. Yes, Baby Jesus was essentially arrested by the Washington State Patrol for his own safety!
There has been other fallout from the “War on Christmas.” One is that bureaucrats in Olympia put a moratorium on all Capitol displays and suggested stricter rules banning all displays, with the exception of an annual “holiday” tree. But some groups worried that the proposed rules were too sweeping, preventing signs and charts by groups like the League of Women Voters or the YWCA that come to the Capitol regularly to present their views to the public and the Legislature. Free speech is threatened, they say, if they are banned like Jesus.
Then there is the publicity. Greater Seattle has become a national whipping boy for those who believe that we’re a hotbed for a secular agenda that’s trying to drive religion from the public square. Foremost among the critics of Northwest holiday controversies is FOX-TV host Bill O’Reilly, who has said that banning Christmas displays is part of a progressive conspiracy to legalize “narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, [and] gay marriage.” It is an attempt to silence religious opposition, he claims.
More likely, public officials aren’t interested in anything so diabolical. They’re probably just tired of the din, the anger, the warfare that erupts — not over Christmas, but over the diversity of ways people have of following their faith. The intolerance cuts more than one way: The dominant Christian tradition in this country is religious, but also, for many, it is simply cultural. There are many atheists, Jews, pagans, and people who belong to no organized religion who celebrate Christmas. To narrowly define it as something only for Christians is to miss its importance in the larger culture.
On the other hand, there should be nothing wrong with a plethora of other holiday-time religious statements. Instead of assuming hidden political agendas, why not recognize that there’s more than one way to celebrate a season that so many people regard as sacred? Is one’s own religious faith really so feeble that it can be shaken by another’s cross, menorah, or rude sign?
Back during the 1918 flu epidemic in Seattle, Mayor Ole Hanson banned all public gatherings to prevent the spread of the deadly disease. His order included churches, and some religious leaders objected. Hanson replied, “Religion which won’t keep for two weeks is not worth having.” In other words, real religion is sturdy, not shakable by something as mundane as a deadly epidemic.
The “War on Christmas” is a made-up war by people who are intolerant and insecure. Real Christmas, and the sentiments of generosity and compassion it celebrates, will survive silly rules, bans, and challenges from nonbelievers. It is resilient, as are the faiths of others who don’t share in Christian beliefs. This fight is between people who pose no threat to each other.
It’s time to move toward “peace on earth” by calling a truce.
This story originally appeared in Seattle Magazine.
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Comments:
Posted Tue, Dec 15, 8:26 a.m. Inappropriate
It's just not that complicated, despite many people's attempts to make it so. The Establishment Clause is clear and has been fairly consistently interpreted. Religious displays and messages don't belong on government property. Period. The Free Exercise Clause ("...prohibiting the free exercise thereof") also gives each citizen the right to display and convey their religious beliefs in private settings and public forums (like a street corner). That's why my house is decked out for Christmas, but not the community center down the block. It's a fairly bright line that should be pretty easy to see, if it weren't for all those bent on messing it up.
Posted Tue, Dec 15, 10:51 a.m. Inappropriate
I don't think it's such a bright line. I was brought up in a non-religious family, yet we celebrated Christmas, and I still do. It may seem counterintuitive but despite the fact that Christmas is, in its foundation, a Christian holiday, it is also a non-secular holiday for some. I think it would help if people would just take a step back and untwist their knickers on this topic. Enjoy the season, people...whatever it means to you.
Posted Tue, Dec 15, 11:23 a.m. Inappropriate
Actually, Christmas is, in its foundation, a pagan holiday. December 25 is New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, and many of our Christmas customs come from Saturnalia, celebrated the week prior. Christians didn't adopt December 25th as Jesus' birthday until the Fourth Century. "If you can't beat them, join them" seemed to be the Pope's position. And even at that, it took Charlemagne to establish Christmas as an observed holiday in 800. I am not a religious person, but government commits so many genuine affronts against me that just can't seriously see a manger scene on the Capitol grounds as an offense. Christmas is part of American culture. Get over it. Merry Christmas, dammit!
Posted Tue, Dec 15, 6:42 p.m. Inappropriate
The "War on Christmas" should be viewed as just another non-story, created and implemented by reactionary activists in an attempt to retain relevance in our pluralistic society, as well as a recruitment tool for a dwindling ideology. It isn't a conspiracy of Muslims, Pagans, and Godless Heathens trying to destroy the holiday for the majority of innocent, live-and-let-live Christian Americans, it is sustained by a small menagerie of ignorant, excitable Fundamentalists who believe that no one else should be allowed to celebrate anything BUT Christmas.
The real story, if there is one, is the small group of Puget Sound natives, from the Seattle Atheists organization, who yesterday placed a modest sign on the capitol grounds that reads: "In this holiday season, let us remember that kindness, charity and goodwill transcend belief, creed or religion."
Posted Tue, Dec 15, 6:50 p.m. Inappropriate
We blindly speak of the U.S. as being a secular nation, the government not promoting ANY religion.
And in the same breath PAY every (non-emergency essential) government employee in the whole country to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the "head" of the Christian religion.
No problem, if you're Christian.
Way back (in the stone age) I avoided singing in the public school choir, because I was not about to sing - Jesus, my lord... (Yeah, I believe in a little honesty)
I'm also totally against censorship!!! and hate the censorship I have to endure all the time in this country!!!
back to religion...
resolve this very easily...
Every government employee gets 1 paid holiday to celebrate any religion of her/his/its choice!
ANY religion gets one day, or 2 weeks, or whatever to display their religious display on government property - same across the board for Christian, Muslims, Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, followers of the old Greek/Roman Gods, atheists (no religion)... you got it... ANY religion...
Let them ALL have the same government support!!!
(Yeah, lol getting by the "conservative" monotheists... - hey, just like baby Jesus, no big deal, get over it...)
Until then, get (almost exclusively WHITE) baby Jesus and the stable off of government property!)
Posted Tue, Dec 15, 11:23 p.m. Inappropriate
Thanks for the piece. I imagine that in city halls and state capitols all over the country, this whole "War on Christmas" is one of those issues that government employees like to gripe about after they've had a few beers.
It's not an issue with a simple resolution. I've heard it said that the Establishment Clause should preclude any sort of religious display on public property, but I think that this is a much too expansive reading of the Establishment Clause. I can certainly understand trying a blanket ban on religious displays out of frustration, but that still won't make people happy. This is probably one of those issues for which there is no solution that doesn't offend a large number of partisans and ideologues.
But with real wars and everything else going on, it seems awfully difficult to justify expending much energy on the whole "War on Christmas" issue. Part of the problem is with lazy sectors of the media who like to generate headlines with trumped up controversies, and with certain well-known demagogues who know how to push the buttons of their listeners.
Posted Wed, Dec 16, 7:11 p.m. Inappropriate
"Merry Christmas, dammit!"? That's a good illustration of the problem. If Christmas (which is a Christian religious holiday, no matter how many atheists have trees) is such a merry, good-will-to-everyone, why are people irritated or even angry that some people don't wish them Merry Christmas? The non-religiousity of Christmas is constantly disproven by the strident calls to return to the "real meaning of Christmas." That isn't candy canes or Santa Claus, I don't think.
Show me the supposedly many Jews who celebrate Christmas, Knute. I mean celebrate it, not just with a tree when Mom is Christian and Dad is Jewish. What we usually do is try to put our heads down and wait it out. That was a lot easier when people weren't yelling about the War on Christmas.
And the Hanukkiah-at-Seatac affair was Chabad, which is about as representative of standard Judaism as Oral Roberts was of Christianity. We have sects, also.
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