The War on Christmas.
Few things get me more frustrated this time of year than the hypothetical “War on Christmas” that has evangelicals and GOP members foaming at the mouth.
To think for one second that because Trump is President, we can “say Merry Christmas again” is UNBELIEVABLY delusional. First of all, we were never “not” allowed to say this? Sorry, but I don’t recall anyone ever thrown in jail or arrested for wishing someone a Merry Christmas.
You are not facing religious persecution by your Starbucks barista wishing you a Happy Holidays.
You are not facing religious persecution by seeing Hannukkah decorations at Hobby Lobby.
You are not facing religious persecution by getting an e-mail marketing newsletter from a chain restaurant with “Happy Holidays” in the subject line.
If the simple act of feeling like you have to acknowledge that other religions and religious holidays exist makes you feel persecuted then I invite you to take a deep look within yourself.
There was NEVER a war on Christmas. Not now, not ever. No, not when Obama was in office, either.
If anything- Christmas is more pervasive than ever!
Stores start selling decorations on November 1st and Christmas marketing for retailers are more intense and frequent. I can’t walk into a store, gas station, or restaurant without hearing Christmas music ad nauseum. Companies shut down for a week.
So for someone to say, in total seriousness, that because Trump is President we can now say Merry Christmas again is the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard.
I’ll end this with some of the most insightful words on Christmas I’ve read, probably ever, from author Rachel Held Evans:
“I hear a lot of professed Christians right now suggesting that it’s okay if powerful men resort to a little lying, bigotry, abuse, and misogyny as long as Americans ‘get to say Merry Christmas again.’ Besides the fact that virtually no one in this country has ever been prohibited from saying ‘Merry Christmas’ in the first place, such a sentiment stands in blasphemous contradiction to the very doctrine of incarnation we are meant to embrace this time of year.
God did not wrap himself up in flesh, humbling himself to the point of birth in a stable and death on a cross, eating, laughing, weeping, and suffering as one of us, so that I can complain to management when a barista at Starbucks wishes me ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas.’
To claim that the lighting of a national Christmas tree each year makes this country ‘a Christian nation,’ while its powerful systematically oppress the poor, turn away refugees, incite violence against religious and ethnic minorities, molest and harass women and girls and call them liars when they dare to speak up, is, in the words of the prophet Amos, sickening to God.”
So- Happy Holidays, & Merry Christmas to you all, whatever you celebrate, and I hope you can find peace and joy this time of year.
-Janine
