Celebrate Christmas

There are times when I find the commercial start of the Christmas season annoying and burdensome. Many times I have found myself saying, out of frustration, "I can't stand this holiday." Why? Because of the burden of purchasing gifts, dealing with the crowds, and of course the never ending in your face postings (advertisements) cajoling you to purchase.

Those sentiments, however, are not reflective of the spirit of Christmas.

The commercial aspect, the telemarketers, merchants, and the rest of those exploiting the holiday for commercial gain should draw our ire, not the meaning of Christmas.

As I return from another Christmas party transformed into a "Holiday Party" I reflect on Christmas and wonder about its place in American culture.

In 2006 the Catholic League, from New York provided some very interesting data. It was revealed that the United States is 85 percent Christian, which means the U.S. is more Christian than India is Hindu and Israel is Jewish.

Can you imagine traveling to India or Israel and complaining about their religious observations? I didn't think so. That was a pretty safe proposition. How about traveling to an Islamic nation to criticize their religious observations? I really didn't think so, unless you want to put your neck on the line-literally.

The attack on Christmas occurs when the secular-progressive(S-P) crowd starts demanding the castration of Christmas. The S-P's scoff at the notion of a war being fought against Christmas. I can understand that because of the limited numbers of the secular movement-it is tantamount to bringing a rock to a gun fight. The S-P crowd does, however, have power tools as secret weapons. These tools are in the form of the ACLU and media giants like the NY Times. The ACLU is greased by the rich and powerful anti-American George Soros, and when he starts scratching in his multibillion dollar check book, the elite left listens. When that power tool fires up the machine the noise is heard loud and clear. The S-P crowd has a voice. The ACLU has leveled a few court battles against some small school boards in a continuing attempt at revising American traditions and has lost many of these proceedings. The point, however, is quite sharp. Christmas seasons arrive with the threat of more costly court battles that these small towns can't afford. The various school super intendants and town leaders quake in their boots and "Silent Night" is silenced, Christmas trees are brought to the mill, and Baby Jesus is spirited away.

Let a menorah be a menorah, let a Christmas tree be a Christmas tree, let a zulfiqar (sword of Ali) be a zulfiqar.

The Catholic League brought out a good point regarding exclusion; "Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Black History Month, Gay Pride Parades-they all exclude someone."

I believe we are strong enough to handle the spirit of all these observations.

America was founded with Judeo-Christian philosophies. Christmas is a large part of an American tradition, with a majority of Americans embracing the holiday.

Why should we pander to these secular groups?

Are we going to allow these culture-arsonists to destroy American tradition and intimidate us away from such a cherished celebration?

Hey, I'm not being overly religious here, but I see nothing wrong with the country I live in embracing a holiday that I happen to believe in. And if I did not believe in it, I certainly can appreciate the liberty of the majority to celebrate en masse in this wonderful land of Freedom.