Overdoing The Christmas Thing
I'm a supporter of putting the Christ back in Christmas, as regular readers know. "Holiday trees" is particularly painful to hear, since they are indelibly, culturally tied to Christmas. I also think stores and businesses that forbid employees from saying Merry Christmas should be taken to court.
But enough already.
Today, a bunch of religious conservatives teamed up to look like idiot-bigots for the gleeful WaPo, which was only too happy to let them go much too far off into the Christ-in-Christmas stratosphere.
The subject? The Bush Christmas card, which has not said "Christmas" since he was elected. The stupid pontificating?
Our office Christmas card says, "Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a blessed New Year" -- an appropriate amount of both religion and sensitivity. The president would be right using a message like that, but he's not wrong saying "Happy Holidays" given his position.
Guidebook for the confused
1. Timothy and Paul both told Christians to be ready to evangelized, but to do it with sensitivity.
2. The goal is to put Christ in Christmas where not doing so is an insult to Christianity. For example, stores should be able to use both "holidays" and "Christmas." They can treat all their customers to a "holiday sale," and offer their Christian customers decorations, nativity scenes and trees at special "Christmas sale prices." And it's OK to call a red sweater with little trees, angels and Santas embroidered all over it a "Christmas sweater." Not too many Jews and Muslims will be buying them anyway.
3. If you're a Christian, wish everyone a Merry Christmas, except those you know from past experience will be offended. Don't do it as if it were some sort of legal challenge; do it to share the joy in your heart. If someone's offended, apologize and say that as a Christian, you are particularly joyful this time of year, and you didn't mean to offend by sharing it.
We Christians are perceived as hard-nosed, unfun people, which hardly helps our evangelistic efforts. Don't make it even harder by appearing particularly, stupidly hard-nosed and unfun at this warm and fun time of year.
But enough already.
Today, a bunch of religious conservatives teamed up to look like idiot-bigots for the gleeful WaPo, which was only too happy to let them go much too far off into the Christ-in-Christmas stratosphere.
The subject? The Bush Christmas card, which has not said "Christmas" since he was elected. The stupid pontificating?
Can't these folks see the difference?. The White House Christmas card goes all over the world, including thousands delivered to important Muslim allies who's allegiance to us is not too deep. Sensitivity is in order, not evangelism."This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
Bush "claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn't act like one," said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com. "I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it."
Our office Christmas card says, "Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a blessed New Year" -- an appropriate amount of both religion and sensitivity. The president would be right using a message like that, but he's not wrong saying "Happy Holidays" given his position.
Guidebook for the confused
1. Timothy and Paul both told Christians to be ready to evangelized, but to do it with sensitivity.
2. The goal is to put Christ in Christmas where not doing so is an insult to Christianity. For example, stores should be able to use both "holidays" and "Christmas." They can treat all their customers to a "holiday sale," and offer their Christian customers decorations, nativity scenes and trees at special "Christmas sale prices." And it's OK to call a red sweater with little trees, angels and Santas embroidered all over it a "Christmas sweater." Not too many Jews and Muslims will be buying them anyway.
3. If you're a Christian, wish everyone a Merry Christmas, except those you know from past experience will be offended. Don't do it as if it were some sort of legal challenge; do it to share the joy in your heart. If someone's offended, apologize and say that as a Christian, you are particularly joyful this time of year, and you didn't mean to offend by sharing it.
We Christians are perceived as hard-nosed, unfun people, which hardly helps our evangelistic efforts. Don't make it even harder by appearing particularly, stupidly hard-nosed and unfun at this warm and fun time of year.
posted by Laer at 7:15 AM
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