You are visitor: In Scotland the time is:
Christian Network

In America this is the year of the "‘Merry Christmas’ War". The U.S. media has been spending quite a bit of time chronicling and debating the recent trend towards eliminating any specific reference to Christmas in the public culture. It seems that many companies and government organizations have been opting for "Happy Holidays" as a politically correct term designed to placate certain elements who object to anything that might offend those who do not celebrate the birth of Christ. This de-emphasis of Christmas has actually been underway here for some time but this seems to be the year that a sizable proportion of the population has said enough is enough. Many Americans are saying "Merry Christmas" quite deliberately in the winter of 2005. The use of the ancient holiday greeting has somehow become a form of protest.

In a year when the country has seen a catastrophic natural disaster in the form of Hurricane Katrina, skyrocketing energy prices and the continuation of an increasingly unpopular war some might think of this controversy as a monumental waste of time. In a sense this is true; there do seem to be much greater issues to deal with as the United States approaches the New Year. However, in another sense, the debate over the use of the word "Christmas" has apparently captured the essence of the larger culture war that has embroiled the nation since the early nineties. Since that time the forces of "Diversity and Tolerance" have squared off against those who hold, at least in theory, to the Judeo-Christian tradition that has been dominant in our society since America’s founding and before.

But it is the "in theory" aspect that has made this whole tempest seem a bit odd from a conservative Christian perspective. Many of those who are tenaciously defending the continued prominence of the Christian holiday in public life are not practicing Christians themselves. Apparently they just do not like the elevation of political correctness over tradition. The debate has become quite heated at times and it is often not evangelicals and serious Catholics who are becoming the most hot and bothered. In fact one sometimes gets the feeling that the more incensed "practical atheists" in the pro-Christmas crowd would like to see the P.C. bunch be, to quote from Scrooge, "boiled in their own pudding". It all reminds the author of the "God Bless America" sign on the marquee of a strip club that he remembers seeing shortly after 9/11. Back then it was the word "God" that was being defended by people who otherwise did not know Him from the proverbial hole in the ground, now its His Son’s birthday.

This is not to say that most activist believers here mind the help. The only parallel that comes to mind is the support that the state of Israel has received from evangelicals in recent years. The Israelis probably have their doubts about getting help from a bunch of people who they still associate with at least a passive form of anti-Semitism, but that doesn’t mean they won’t take it. Better strange friends than no friends at all. So when some person calls into a radio show and defends the term "Merry Christmas" with a liberal smattering of curse words most of us don’t exactly call the station and complain about the language. Winston Churchill, after all, once said he would make a pact with the devil if Hell would declare war on Germany. Both kinds of wars, real and verbal, make for some strange bedfellows.

This particular battle in the larger war will undoubtedly go on for some time to come. Neither side has scored a clear victory. In recent weeks some businesses have relented under pressure from traditionalists and re-inserted the word Christmas into their advertising while others have listened to the forces on the other side and kept things "spiritually generic". While their has been much talk in the States about the ascent to influence of evangelicals during the past few years or it is clear that a sizable percentage of the rest of the country sympathizes with those who want to eliminate every token of Christianity from public American life. It is too early to know who will win or, for that matter, whether the pro-Christmas side "winning" would lead to an appreciably godlier nation anyway. Which, after all, is worse, an officially agnostic America or one that is largely Christian in name only? It is a question worth asking for those of us who must decide whether or not to join the fray.