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Theophobia Part IV: Holiday Inn
By Michael P. Tremoglie (12/21/05)
(This is the fourth installment in my series, begun January 2005, about the campaign to bowdlerize religion from American culture)
There has been a backlash by some conservative pundits and commentators against the trend to eliminate Christmas from the holiday lexicon. Their campaign is having an effect as people – who realized there was this trend to eliminate Christmas yet thought that they were being too dogmatic or fanatical – now realize it is those who want to eliminate Christmas who are the fanatics.
The campaign to eliminate religion from public life is not new. It is a doctrine that has been propagated by the liberal bien pensants for years. They use the pretext that America is a secular nation, as such, one cannot – and should not – mention Christmas in the public square.
This campaign, initially, was limited to ensuring government entities prevent the free exercise of religion. It has now expanded to include nongovernmental organizations and private industry.
However, there is now a backlash against the backlash. Liberal pundits and commentators denied there was a campaign against the expression of Christmas or religion. Some qualified it, the Philadelphia Inquirer for one, by claiming that only a few “fringe” organizations were complaining.
Who is correct? Are conservatives legitimately concerned about a real threat to the free exercise of religion? Are the liberal deniers correct by saying that conservatives are being irrational alarmists?
Let’s go to the videotape – as they say. These are just some examples of the attempt to bowdlerize Christmas from public and private arenas:
· A woman complained to McDonald’s restaurants’ corporate office about a sign at a Raleigh, NC McDonald’s that says: "Merry Christmas, Jesus is the Reason for the Season." The woman was quoted by the website of WRAL-TV, Raleigh NC as saying: "I care because I'm Jewish, and the reason for the season is upsetting to me,….It offends me because it specifically talks about Jesus, Merry Christmas. It doesn't give credit to anyone else.”. The woman requested that the sign be changed to the politically correct Happy Holidays. The response from McDonald’s HQ was the owner has the right to do what she wants with the sign.[1]
· The Samona family of Novi, Michigan, was threatened with fines from their development’s management company if they did not remove a nativity scene from their front lawn. [2]
· New York City public school system’s written policy permits students to display the Jewish menorah and Islamic star and crescent in school, but specifically prohibits students from displaying Christian nativity scenes.[3]
· Maplewood Public School District, New Jersey banned all religious music, including instrumentals, from public schools in the district.[4]
· a New Jersey elementary school, a class trip to see a Broadway performance of the Charles Dickens classic "A Christmas Carol" was canceled owing to the threat of a lawsuit[5]
· Plano, Texas, school parents were prohibited from using red and green plates and napkins — they could bring only white decorations for "winter" parties.[6]
· Palm Beach Florida schools warned teachers not to allow any Christmas decorations to be displayed.[7]
· In a Texas classroom, children were told to draw a tracing of their foot, and then put a message on the drawing. One little girl wrote "Jesus Loves Me" on hers. The kid's teacher ripped the tracing off the board. "Don't you ever do this again," she said. The little girl burst into tears.
When her outraged father called the school, nervous officials told the child to make another tracing. She did so—but this time, instead of scrawling "Jesus Loves Me," she drew a tiny cross that was so small it was almost invisible
Apparently, none of these incidents constitute a threat to the “free exercise “ clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution, as far as liberals are concerned. It does not, because liberals think the aforementioned incidents to be perfectly normal and satisfactory behavior.
Religion seems to be a threat to the state according to the statists. This shows how far they have progressed. They used to think religion was the “opiate of the people.”
For my own part, I would welcome more education about different religions in public schools. I would welcome more acknowledgements of religious holidays. It is impossible to teach human history and science without including religion. Yet, public schools seem to make a concerted effort to do so.
This is a problem for several reasons – prohibiting the free exercise of religion is only one of them. By excluding the mentioning of religion in general or specifically discriminating against Christianity, public and private organizations are making Americans even more culturally ignorant than we already are.
There is no question this happens when schools prohibit religious expression. Most of the world’s people are religious. How can they not teach about religion? How can schools in good conscience not mention Christmas?
Denying Christmas exists by staging concerts at Christmas time and calling them “Winter Festivals” is to deny reality. Denying reality makes the educational experience unrealistic. Making the educational experience unrealistic is not educational at all.
Those liberals who want to deny that the bowdlerization of religion from American is not occurring are being “parochial.” They are either ignorant of what is occurring around them or they are being disingenuous.
The aforementioned examples perfectly illustrate that there is no room at the inn for “Christmas.” The only room at the inn is for “Holiday.”
[1] Ret fm w/s http://www.wral.com/news/5532271/detail.html 12-20-05
[2] Ret fm w/s http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051129/LIFESTYLE04/511290380 12-19-05
[3] ret fm w/s http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29942 12-19-05
[4] ret fm w/s http://www.thomasmore.org/news.html?NewsID=390 12-19-05
[5] ret fm w/s http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:VKEQFfq1S8UJ:washingtontimes.com/national/20041221-103610-9207r.htm+NJ+elementary+school+Christmas+Carol+trip+canceled&hl=en 12-19-05
[6] ibid
[7] ibid
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Michael P. Tremoglie is a freelance writer whose is completing his first novel, "A Sense of Duty," and an ex-Philadelphia cop.
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*Ed: Views are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of American Daily.
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