When it comes to war Republicans know all about staying the course. Even with the imminent release of the Iraq Study Group’s report on resolving President Bush’s Middle East mess the President himself continues to insist that the United States doesn’t need benchmarks or timetables to know when to get out.
Someone else who knows a thing or two about staying the course is self-proclaimed culture warrior Bill O’Reilly who has made Christmas the central front in his continuing battle against secular progressives.
"Let me give you an example: the battle for Christmas. Twenty years ago, nobody had a problem saying Merry Christmas; no store had a problem; no municipality had a problem. It was a federal holiday you practiced Christmas. It was a great tradition. Now every two minutes we're turning around, you can't say this, you can't say that. That was because of the rise of secular progressives. They want to wipe out all spirituality in the marketplace, no public spirituality, so that their agenda politically can get passed easier. That's one very vivid example in this season of the culture war," O’Reilly told the Reverend Pat Robertson on the 700 Club Thursday.
The Fox News Channel pundit pointed out to the ever-smiling Robertson what this country would look like if weapons of mass secularization were released:
"Well, go to Holland and you'll see. If you want to see what America would be like under a secular progressive system, go to the Netherlands. Go to Montreal. Canada used to be a traditional country. It's now a secular progressive nation. Western Europe used to be traditional. Now it's secular progressive."
Ok, let’s forget for a moment that Christmas trees – or rather the use of trees as decorations during wintertime festivals and holidays – actually predates Christianity. Let’s forget that people from many different nations have immigrated to the United States since Christmas trees became popular in this country. Let’s forget that there are many different religions – not all of them Christian – that have wintertime holidays within days or weeks of December 25.
Because, only by forgetting all of that can it be considered appropriate to insist on people saying Merry Christmas. No winter solstice, no Hanukkah or anything else. In O’Reilly’s world, if you’re not at least nominally a Christian you don’t rate. Keep in mind that we are not talking about a relatively minor festival like Saint Patrick’s Day, in which people whose families initially hailed from such diverse spots as Sicily or South Africa become make-believe Irishmen for a day to join in the fun. We are talking about the observance of no one less than the birth of a man who came to save the world.
As for other consequences of this mysterious secular progressive agenda, O’Reilly points to abortion rates in Canada and the Netherlands – two nations he says that have lost their way.
But oddly enough, when one looks at the abortion data of our neighbor to the north we find that the Canadian abortion rate is already lower than that of the country O’Reilly calls "the strongest country that the world has ever seen." And Canada’s 30.8% abortion rate (compared to 31.4% in the US) is actually double that of the Netherlands, a nation of notoriously relaxed social mores. The Dutch abortion rate is 14.5%.
So social progressivism and respect for life are not the polar opposites O’Reilly perceives them to be.
Maybe O’Reilly’s real concern centers around the redistribution of wealth:
"The nation then becomes huge entitlements where the government runs everything including the economy, income redistribution which means the affluent Americans get their money taken away by the big governments. Other people get it in a handout: entitlements. Socially you have unfettered abortion, euthanasia, legalized narcotics, gay marriage. All of these things come in because no judgments are made on private behavior by secular progressives, so that's the nation you would be. If you want to see it, take a flight into Amsterdam and hang around Holland for three days, and you got it."
O’Reilly is one of the people whose income would be affect by redistribution of income. But I am mindful that one of the measures of the greatness of a society is the way it responds to those that are less fortunate. Surely even a culture warrior could not refuse food for starving children or homes for needy families, especially at the holidays.
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ – Matthew 25:34-40
Whoops! When I said holidays I meant Christmas. Those darn pesky secular progressives must be at it again.