Use to be that Americans sat around during the Christmas season waiting for the first snowflakes to fall. Now there is almost as much anticipation to see what silly things ridiculous activists are going to get offended over in their rush to see who among their ranks will outdo the Grinch or Scrooge in perpetrating a holiday hullabaloo.

In the past, debate has raged within certain Evangelical circles about their relationship to the decorative symbols of Christmas accepted by most in the wider population, especially Santa Claus in particular. However, Christians might be surprised to learn that they would do well to reembrace these festive emblems as strategic rallying points in the wider culture war as the same forces of radical agnosticism bent on sweeping Christianity into the sociological sinkhole have now set their sites on these theologically peripheral yet culturally endearing motifs.

The City Council of Kensington, Maryland ended that municipality’s longstanding tradition of having Old St. Nick light the local Christmas tree. The primary reason being that two families found this jolly old elf offensive; not so much because they felt this character trivialized the sacredness of this occasion celebrating the birth of Christ, but because the symbol was perceived as too religious in nature.

Why is it that whenever humanists and other hostile heathens get offended the whole show comes to a screeching halt, but when conservatives find their deepest values attacked in the form of perverted sex education or in diversity training derogatory of the white race they are expected to sit their and even smile about it? To paraphrase the admonition used to dismiss parents raising concerns regarding the broadcast filth polluting the media airwaves, those repelled by Mr. Claus and his entourage are not compelled to watch.

Yet in Kensington, secularists did not state their case through crude anti-religious rhetoric alone. Instead, they embellished their case with an appeal to patriotic sentiments.

As with as number of other issues not even related to counterterrorism, the tragic events of September 11th are invoked as an excuse to irrevocably alter the fabric of American life. This time as it relates to Yuletide celebrations. One member of the Kensington town council told WUSA TV 9, the Washington D.C. CBS affiliate, that we are living in a "post-September 11th" world --- bring those words up and you can get by with anything --- where we can no longer revel in holiday frivolity. Instead firefighters, police officers, and postal workers ought receive the honor of lighting the tree.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but frankly haven’t firefighters and policemen gotten their share of attention lately? It’s not like their contribution in this time of crisis has gone unappreciated. There is little reason to alter absolutely everything.

Nearly a dozen have died covering the conflict in Afghanistan. Geraldo Rivera himself nearly bought the farm over there. Does that mean the editor of the local paper should get to flip the switch? A number of Christian ministries rushed to New York to address the overwhelming spiritual trauma to be found at the World Trade Center site. Does that mean a local member of the clergy deserves the honor?

Heaven forbid that last option. For you see, the Kensington celebration was to be so secular in nature, the Washington Times noted, that the band would not even be playing "Jingle Bells" lest some liberal fall into atheistic apoplexy. Nor would traditional ornaments such as stars or angels be adorning the tree. These would be replaced with patriotic songs and red, white, and blue lights. Look hard enough and you’d probably find a hammer and sickle as well.

While liberals have typically had little use for the United States other than as a laboratory in which to carry out ghastly sociological experiments, they are perhaps at their most dangerous when they feign patriotism or seek to impose their version of it upon the remainder of the population. Without the sense of personal tranquility provided by belief in a sovereign God standing above the fray and confusion of history, this world and its institutions are the only things secularists have after all. They possess no greater authority; they sense no higher hope.

According to the Washington Times, the Kensington cabal does not even have the decency to call it a Christmas tree --- it’s a "secular tree" all in the name of tolerance and inclusion. It’s enough to make you puke.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven." Christmas is not the Fourth of July or some other occasion on the calendar designed for the purpose of expressing vital patriotic sentiments.

While those who lost their lives through terrorism and those sacrificing to protect the United States from this evil should be remembered on this special day, this does not mean we must revolutionize the fundamental nature of Christmas or obliterate this day’s unique brand of joy. In his efforts to console the nation, President Bush has continuously emphasized the need to get back to life as normal. There is no need to sit around as sour-pussed as the Taliban; unless of course liberals and secularists ultimately wish to exert this same degree of absolute control over the American people in their own way.

Frederick Meekins

About Frederick Meekins.

Copyright © 2001 by Frederick B. Meekins .
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-Published with permission