War on Christmas

One of Bill O'Reilly's annual events is his decrying of the supposed "War on Christmas" where he calls out everyone and anyone who uses the word holiday instead of Christmas. This has always struck me as stupid, Adam Cohen provides the best arguement yet:

This campaign - which is being hyped on Fox and conservative talk radio - is an odd one. Christmas remains ubiquitous, and with its celebrators in control of the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and every state supreme court and legislature, it hardly lacks for powerful supporters. There is also something perverse, when Christians are being jailed for discussing the Bible in Saudi Arabia and slaughtered in Sudan, about spending so much energy on stores that sell "holiday trees."

The rest of the article is very interesting. Turns out the Puritans that came to the US hated Christmas because they saw it as having no biblical connections, and thus must be related to Roman pagan festivals on December 25th. But this sentiment carried on for a very long time:

As late as 1855, New York newspapers reported that Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist churches were closed on Dec. 25 because "they do not accept the day as a Holy One." On the eve of the Civil War, Christmas was recognized in just 18 states.

Of course, that history lesson has little bearing on how we should act, but it is interesting that the "War on Christmas" people can often be so militant about the founding fathers and the religious legacy of this country when that legacy and those founders had entirely different and complicated motives.

-Mr. Alec