Why Democrats Would Want To Remove Christmas From The Public Realm

12-28-2004

And the attacks against the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus continue.

There are actually two aspects to the recognition of the holiday of Christmas. One is the religious celebration of the birth of Jesus that has always been represented on December 25th. The birth of Jesus is an enigmatic moment in the history of the Christian faith and as such lends itself to a special observance that should be beyond reproach no matter how blatantly biased a person may be.

Anything less than that should be viewed as reprehensible.

But attacking Christians in America has become a sport in this country as of late, and since the Christmas holiday is indelibly tied to a religious holiday, it now seems to be open season for those looking to belittle Christians, especially those who live in the 'red states'.

The second part of the holiday is mostly a consumer driven observance that is based on the concept of sharing and bringing together family members who for most of the year may not otherwise spend the time to visit one another. The commercialization of the holiday is really what created the opportunity for those attacking Christmas to be able to more successfully score a victory.

Secularists have been able to say that 'Santa Claus', though based on a real man, is nothing more than a commercial appendage of corporate America and many of the other accoutrements used during the festivities such as: Christmas trees, lights, decorations, gifts, etc..., also add to an amalgamation of the religious and commercial aspects of the Christmas celebration.

Which, in reality, they are. But what the attackers have begun doing and are becoming increasingly better at is eradicating the fine line between the familial festivities and the religious ceremonies that are in toto the overall celebratory nature of the Christmas holiday itself.

The problem is you cannot subtract the religious impetus from the actual celebration that is the basis for the Christmas holiday.

That point can be argued and defended time and again when being confronted by secularists who are against any religious observances that are substantiated by the Federal government. Giving someone the day off from work does not constitute a conflict where the government is mandating one particular religion. Which, by the way, is what the Constitution prevents, not a 'separation of church and state' like so many in this country continue to felicitously espouse.

Some have even put forth the notion that a 'non-existent' hysteria about Christmas being under attack has been created in this country by certain organizations or groups who are doing so to obtain more support; financially, emotionally, and in participation, from Christians who may not ordinarily contribute to these institutions.

The preposterousness of that accusation is answered by all the law suits that have been filed by the ACLU against Christmas activities, unless that is one of the organizations that intended to benefit from the 'hysteria'. Maybe it was that same 'hysteria' that prompted a school district in New Jersey to cancel their yearly outing to see 'A Christmas Carol' after they were threatened with litigation.

No, what's the most strange about this assault is the fact that so much of the current besiege on Christmas is coming from...liberal Democrats.

It has become openly apparent that secularists have adopted the liberal mantel over time as their own and that the elitists of the Democrat party mostly encompass this segment of American society. This, of course, is the main reason why the party itself has lost so much support from its members and since many of them don't see the connotation of that fact, they also don't see the negative ramifications of what their party is doing by attacking Christmas using secularism as a method to their madness.

So what would cause very religious Christian Democrats to turn a blind eye to the efforts of many in their party to subtract religious ceremony from the holiday spirit of Christmas?

Even though during the last election, many moderate Democrats voted for President Bush, the over-whelming majority of Democrats... including Christians... voted against the President. Then the issue was raised that the Bush victory was mandated because of 'moral values'. Which, at the least, can be conceded was a large part of the election victory, but not it's entirety and that became a divisive contention that many Christian Democrats who wanted to see President Bush lose the election just couldn't stomach.

These Democrats probably don't want to see the complete eradication of the religious celebration from the Christmas holiday, so during the current holiday season they have decided to rebel against the system and it's supposed 'moral leadership' by simply standing on the sidelines, effectively removing themselves from the clash.

Now it is possible that since they feel they were singled out on the issue of 'moral values' in the aftermath of the election, they may actually assume that eradicating Christmas from the public realm is in their best interest. By doing so it would be one less thing that they could be 'judged' on. Remember that Christian Democrats went on a rampage when they thought that their religious and political beliefs were being impugned as a conflict of interest.

Which they are and the fight over the religious connection to the celebration of Christmas and attacks from liberals who seem to think that our forefathers intended to promote secularism as a standard for American Democracy exemplifies that embroilment better than most situations that has arisen lately.

Many liberals called what took place during the last election a 'divide and conquer' strategy where Republicans used issues such as gay marriage to 'drive a wedge' between moderate and liberal Democrats. They now view the elimination of Christmas from the public forum as one less opportunity for Republicans to use this method against Democrats in the future.

Elitist liberal Democrats who have accepted secularism as a legitimate proponent of their agenda, can only succeed politically if Christian Democrats accept that public displays of the religious aspect of Christmas... and any other Christian holiday... be removed from the traditional ceremonies that constitute the holiday festivities.

Fighting to maintain the celebration of the birth of Christ as the justification for the holiday called Christmas is righteous and the observance of the holiday in the spirit for which it was intended is exactly what our forefathers wanted when they founded this country. Trying to destroy the right of Americans to worship freely even in the public sector is the antithesis of that mandate.

And if supporting that belief is divisive and could divide Democrats politically, then so be it.

Lee P Butler