Thank God for the ‘War on Christmas’
Yes, Virginia, there is a “War on Christmas,” and it dates back to well before political correctness, secularism, squeamish retailers, hyper-sensitive believers, or even Bill O’Reilly.
The real War on Christmas is so old, in fact, it’s older than Christmas itself. It began when Jesus was still in his mother’s womb. King Herod, learning that the Christ would soon arrive, dispatched the three wise men to find the newborn king — so that he might “come and worship him.”
The wise men, warned of Herod’s treachery in a dream, knew better than to comply with his wishes. So the king, “in a furious rage,” took matters into his own hands. As the Gospel of Matthew tells us, “He sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under.” Jesus only survived because Joseph — also warned in a dream — fled for Egypt by night.
Now that’s a war on Christmas.
And for 2000 years, with varying degrees of intensity, the war has raged on.
It raged during the Roman Empire, most notably under the pagan Emperor Diocletian’s persecution, when Christian worship was prohibited and thousands of the faithful were executed.
It raged during the de-Christianization of the French Revolution, when “enlightened” leaders closed churches, banned public and private worship, deported and killed clerics, and destroyed religious monuments.
It raged in colonial America, when Puritanical Protestants, concerned that Christmas was tainted by excess and popery, banned its celebration.
It raged during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, when religious leaders were executed on the altar of communist atheism.
And it rages on today, in places like China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, North Korea and Nigeria, where uttering the phrase “Merry Christmas” or otherwise celebrating the holiday can land one in prison, earn one a beating — or worse.
All of which makes 21st Century America’s much-bemoaned “War on Christmas” seem rather tame. While Christians elsewhere have lashings and beheadings to worry about, our worst concern seems to be how we’ll be greeted by the clerk at Wal-Mart.
That’s not to say the “War on Christmas,” as defined by the likes of O’Reilly and others, is phony. It isn’t. Certainly there are aggressive secularists out there who seem preoccupied with trying to purge any hint of the C-word from the public sphere. Their numbers may be small, but their influence is significant.
It’s because of their influence, for instance, that we hear of school holiday concerts where traditional songs are scrubbed clean of any words that hint at the reason for the season. It’s why the presence of a Scriptural verse on president’s Christmas card can be deemed an insult to good taste by the gals on “The View.” And it’s why Lowes, like countless other corporate giants, went to great lengths not to offend anyone by re-naming holiday evergreens “family trees” in its winter catalog.
Still, in light of the very real persecution Christians and Christmas have endured throughout the centuries, these complaints seem trifling. What’s more, the “War on Christmas” shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, least of all to Christians.
In the Gospel of Luke, Christ asks, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” And he offers a warning: “Beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake.”
In other words, there will always be a War on Christmas. Get used to it.
At first blush, it’s hard to imagine how a baby, born humbly in a stable two millennia ago, could be so polarizing. Is it the call to love one’s neighbor? The offer of eternal forgiveness? The promise of salvation? The command to care for the needy and proclaim the good news?
In a word, yes.
With the promise of forgiveness and mercy comes the sort of challenge we, as human beings, hate most — acknowledging our faults and our weaknesses, and renouncing the worldly gods of money and power in which we’ve put our trust.
So we resist, often angrily. A baby born humbly in a manger was targeted for death well before he was even born. Eventually, as an adult, angry men would kill him. And ever since, his name continues to arouse anger.
The War on Christmas persists.
That’s not all bad. It’s during Christianity’s periods of cultural dominance that Christians have historically tended to succumb to the temptations, the corruption, the abuse of power and spiritual laziness. And it’s in times of persecution that the faith has flourished, producing awesome conversions and powerful saints.
God is funny that way. “The last shall be first, and the first last.” From the despised, the martyrs, the powerless — from a baby in a manger — come unimaginable glory.
If “family trees” and crèche-less public squares are their cross are to bear, modern American Christians should consider themselves lucky. And rather than bemoan the “War on Christmas,” Christians should be grateful to be included among its targets.
We need only recall the first Christians, the Apostles, who after suffering a beating at the hands of the Sadducees, “rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.”
Yes, Virginia, there is a War on Christmas. Thanks be to God.
And Merry Christmas!