I recognize and accept that some organizations, to placate the 25% of the rest of us, may be rolling back the Christian facade placed on top of many of the traditions of the holiday season. Some of these organizations do it as a matter of law-- the separation of church and state. While the government is explicitly prevented from infringing on the practice of religion, implicitly, government is also, in my opinion, required to not advocate any particular practice of religion.
But to call it an all out "war" is unadulterated hyperbole. Next time I hear someone talk about ultra-secularist religious oppression, I think I'm going to stuff them into a crate and send them to Turkey where the equivalent of the mayor of New York would be imprisoned for five months for saying the equivalent of "God Bless America".
But I started this entry by talking about irony, not ignorance of what constitutes a real secular war... The irony I speak of is that the "erosion" of the institutions the Christians are decrying are not actually Christian institutions at all, but largely pagan ones.
Consider decorating a tree, hanging a wreath, or mistletoe or holly. That couldn't be any more druidic. What about the Yule log? What about celebrating a holiday on the Winter Solstice. Hmm. Sounds more Wiccan than Jesus. So when someone "renames" a "Christmas" tree to a "Holiday tree" that's not being Politically Correct, that's being Historically Correct.
I'm not saying Christians should stop using Christmas trees (unless, of course they haven't read Jeremiah 10:2, but that's something they can reconcile amongst themselves). I'm also not saying that the rest of us should condemn trees decorated during the holiday as being Christmas trees.
The point of the holiday season (and it's not exclusive to the Christian faith, I'm sorry to say) is to quit being such tight asses. Jesus taught tolerance and turning the other cheek. He also asked for people to pull the plank out of their own eye before pointing out the sliver in others'. Christians don't have exclusive license on the holiday season, on the holiday spirit, nor many of the holiday traditions we celebrate today.
Seriously, people. Let the holiday season mean whatever it means to everyone. Nobody is diminishing the magnitude nor the breadth of your celebration of Christ's "birth" by calling what you put in your living room a "Holiday Tree". If you want to call it your Christmas tree to the people who come to your home to admire it (and the presents you bought from Walmart), more power to you.
As Shakespeare pointed out, "a rose by any other name..."
