Today, as Allie and I walked the neighborhood, I saw this bright red and green sign in a nearby yard.
My first thought was "Freaking Glen Beck groupie!" I'm so sick of hearing the rightwingnut talk show hosts declaring those who don't celebrate Christmas are waging "war' on those who do - and insisting Christians should be afraid of what will happen if "they" keep on infringing on "our" right to celebrate the holiday the majority of Americans happen to identify with.
It's come to the point where some people feel compelled to publicly defend their allegiance to Christmas by planting signs like this one.
Isn't a nativity scene, a Christmas tree, or an over-the-top lighted display enough any more to let everyone know you're a Christian celebrating a Christian holiday in a country founded on the freedom to practice one's own religion?
I feel sorry for people who've been led to believe that there is some "war" on Christmas in the US. And I hate the fact that they've allowed the talk show bloviators who know very well that
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd -- Bertrand Russell
to co-opt their Christian beliefs and incite them to engage in very anti-Christian (IMHO) behaviors.
A sign like this in someone's yard is an insult to non-Christians, but worse, if the teachings of Christianity are to be believed, it's an insult to Christ.
I always thought one of the most basic tenents of Christianity was love for one's fellow man. I thought Christians looked upon Jesus Christ as an example of how to live one's life and believed in the Golden Rule, tolerance, acceptance, and that God is love (1 John 4:8).
But to proclaim your dedication to a specific Christian rite in such an "in your face" manner doesn't exactly seem like something based on asking WWJD? Instead, it seems to me a passive-agressive way of announcing "my religious beliefs are the 'right ones'."
Imagine the howls of protest from the right wing if Jewish people started putting up signs in front of their homes proclaiming,
In this house we don't believe in Jesus Christ.
Happy Hanukkah!
What if Muslim families planted yard signs saying,
In this house we celebrate Eid Al-Fitr!
"Kul 'am wa enta bi-khair!"
(May every year find you in good health!)
And yet, someone is manufacturing these "Christmas" signs, and people are sticking them outside in plain view, like a giant "up yours" for the holidays. I don't know where the signs came from, but as if they aren't bad enough, Bill O'Reilly is selling "We Say Merry Christmas" bumper stickers on his Web site, his latest attempt to hype his ongoing diatribe that Christmas is in danger from "secular progressives."
I guess that's me he's talking about, since I'm a - 5.62, - 5.69, and I celebrate Christmas only as a secular event. After being indoctrinated in Catholicism since birth, I grew out of it, and no longer believe in anything remotely resembling organized religion. But I love Christmas, and celebrate it mightily with a tree, indoor and outdoor decorations, an ever-expanding collection of animated Santas, lots of presents, and yes, cards to all my friends and relatives that say "Merry Christmas."
I appreciate religious Christmas music as some of the most beautiful ever composed, and I look forward all year to hearing it. The solemnity and ceremony of Midnight Mass still sends shivers up my spine, despiite the fact I've come to view it as only a magnificent ceremony. I'm pretty sure haven't declared war on Christmas. I haven't even fired a bee-bee at it.
As someone who is not fortunate enough to have a particular religious belief, I not only tolerate, but admire and applaud the beliefs of all others on the planet. Be you Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Druid, Wiccan, or even Scientoligist - whatever flavor you prefer, I absolutely affirm your right to choose and to publicly proclaim your choice.
But I get upset when that proclaiming starts sounding like a put down of others' choices. I get angry when self-styled purveyors of the truth feel duty-bound to warn their constituency that there exists some vast non-Christian conspiracy bent on taking away their right to celebrate Christmas the way they want to. And I get f'ing enraged when people blindly following the exhortations of truthiness do things that not only subtly attack the beliefs of others, but also weaken foundations of their own.
I agree with Abraham Heschel, there is certainly is a way to to combine loyalty to your own tradition with reverence for different ones, but planting signs in your yard touting your personally preferred practices is NOT it.
The sign planter in my neighborhood, and others who would emulate his action could learn a lot from this particular non-Christian:
"When faith is replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit... when faith becomes an inherited heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority and rules rather than the voice of compassion, its message becomes meaningless."
- - Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel