Every year, Fox News does their "war on christmas" routine. But, this year I think they have escalated it to new levels. See the clip below:
Fox continues to twist and manipulate the history of Christmas celebration in America. The other day, I actually saw Laura Ingraham arguing that the pilgrims came to this country to celebrate Christmas (in fact, the Pilgrims outlawed it's celebration when they got here). Puritans were Christian but they banned Christmas because they viewed it as too English (they were trying to break away from the Church of England and its customs). So, it's basically the exact opposite of what Ingraham said: the pilgrims came to America, among other reasons, to get away from Christmas.
Fox News stages this phony Christmas war every year in support of it's phony culture war (culture wars get ratings). The problem, of course, is that is that this type of media leaves Americans less informed and even more divided.
Christmas was not officially celebrated in this country until after the Civil War when it was made a federal holiday (in the effort to bring the country together). This federalizing of Christmas was later challenged by lawyers and civil libertarians as a violation of the Establishment Clause. We have seen a number of legal challenges over the years. One particularly good one was made when I was in law school---Ganulin v. United States , 71 F. Supp. 2d 824 (S.D. Ohio 1999)
Mr. Ganulin basically argued that Christmas is religious in nature (duh) and that making it a federal holiday is in effect providing the holiday a federal subsidy. Surprise, surprise: the federal judge who heard the case did not rule with Mr. Ganulin. After all, judges are politicians in black robes, and what politician in his or her right mind would strike down Christmas? So, the judge hearing Mr. Ganulin's case (as well as judges hearing similar challenges) have allowed for government celebration of this religious holiday by concluding, without any real basis, that Christmas has been largely secularized. This is why we see a whole line of silly court cases with judges trying to analyze whether Christmas displays have been sufficiently "diluted" so as not to carry a discernible religious message. Some legal commentators have referred to this judicial practice as applying the "three reindeer rule." In other words, how many reindeers (as opposed to baby jesus figures) do you need before the Christmas display can be put up at the local city hall? Silly.
This refusal, on the part of judges, to recognize Christmas for what it really is (a religious holiday) is just another form of the judicial politicking that is so common in our legal system. And, the "three reindeer" rule has led to some rather ridiculous results:
Honestly, it has always confused me why Christmas is a federal holiday. In effect, this means that the federal government spends an enormous amount of money paying it's employees to stay home from work and celebrate the virgin birth of a baby-god (thus the "Christ" in Christmas). When public officials try to secularize the holiday (to comply with the rulings of federal courts), the backlash is tremendous and the culture warriors declare war. The fact that Christians become so offended at government sponsored Christmas displays being secularized (with items such as "holiday trees") is a pretty good indicator that Christmas may not be as secularized as federal courts have maintained. Clearly, those who observe Christmas do not consider it such:
So, what's the solution to the "war on christmas"? Well, I'm no great legal scholar, but here's a novel idea. If you want to celebrate a holiday centered around a religious belief (like the belief that the jewish god Yahweh impregnated a virgin female with a baby-god who when born became the divine savior of the world) then do so out of publicly shared spaces and government institutions. In other words, celebrations that center around the exclusive beliefs of particular religious traditions should not be the basis of national holidays. The practice of religion should be limited to private areas like churches, homes, and businesses. Christians get mad when mosques are built on privately owned property in their neighborhoods. Yet, they complain about government sponsored holiday celebrations that "take the Christ out of Christmas." Talk about "casting the first stone."