|
Celebrating Christmas in America
Every December 25th, millions of Americans celebrate Christmas.1 For many children, Christmas is the favorite holiday of the year. It is a time for families and friends to gather together. For many Christians it is one of the holiest days of the year.2 Some popular movies and television programs evoke the nostalgia of Christmas and have themselves become part and parcel of American culture: White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol, It's A Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Holiday Inn. Stores value Christmas not only because of the spirit of the season, but because it contributes to the busiest and most profitable shopping time of the year. Unlike Ebenezer Scrooge's counting house in 19th century London, American stores, businesses, museums, and government offices are typically closed on December 25th. Even the ACLU closes on Christmas! [For an ACLU expression of Christmas cheer, read this USA Today editorial.]
In recent years, the cry that there is a "war on Christmas" has become a recurring theme of several commentators. One who happily describes himself as a "culture warrior," Bill O'Reilly, imagines that there are forces at work trying to end the public celebration of Christmas and even any mention of the holiday. Rush Limbaugh claimed back in 2005 that public officials were "trying to get Christmas, you know, out of the public consciousness" (according to a Media Matters transcript). Like fish declaring that "There is no water!" (because they can't see what surrounds them), these culture warriors seem unable to see what is staring them in the face. Christmas is pervasive in the public and private square, and, except when the government is being used to promote religious beliefs, it is entirely constitutional.3.
While Christmas displays are being placed in front of homes and churches across the country, and as carolers go door-to-door with songs of Christmas cheer, these "culture warriors" and others say that Christmas is being removed from all public mention. Other organizations, such as the Baptist Joint Committee, say that "some are now bent on fighting battles in a culture war against an enemy that does not exist."4
John Gibson, who "pals around" with domestic culture warrior O'Reilly, boldly declares in his book, The War on Christmas, that some are trying to ban "normal and traditional Christmas representations such as Christmas trees, Santa Claus, treetop stars, wreaths, the singing of and listening to Christmas carols or Christmas instrumental music, attending a performance of Dickens' A Christmas Carol ..."5
O'Really?
There are two problems - big problems - with such declarations about a "war on Christmas."
First, the constitutional right of people to worship, preach, sing carols, and celebrate Christmas in their churches and with their families and friends — whether in public or in private — is well-protected. The ACLU itself has brought several cases on behalf of people who want to celebrate Christmas.6 When the smoke of battle clears, Christmas is completely safe. The real question is not whether people can celebrate Christmas (they most certainly can), but whether the government should be promoting religious beliefs and practices (it most certainly shouldn't).
Second, it seems that some proponents of government-sponsored religion have become so confused that they are now promoting distinctly unchristian symbols in the name of saving Christmas. By all appearances, these culture warriors are doing themselves exactly what they accuse others of doing: undermining Christmas!
Let's take a closer look at what Gibson naively refers to as "normal and traditional Christmas representations such as Christmas trees, Santa Claus, treetop stars, wreaths, the singing of and listening to Christmas carols or Christmas instrumental music, attending a performance of Dickens' A Christmas Carol ... "
>> Christmas' Origins
>> Christmas Law
>> Santa Claus
>> Christmas Evergreens
>> A Weighin' the Mangers
>> The Origin of Crèches
>> Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"
>> Puritans & Christmas
1 Different denominations of Christians celebrate it on different days. By convention, "Western" Christianity celebrates it on December 25th, while the Orthodox Christian churches typically observe January 6th or 7th as the birth of Jesus. Read more about the Origins of Christmas .
Many Americans, of course, do not celebrate Christmas - which typically excludes them from many of the cultural and religious activities that bring together many others. For two explanations of what Christmas can be like for non-Christians, see "What Do Jews Do On Christmas?" and "Chinese Food on Christmas" on YouTube.
3 Religion is pervasive in the public square in the United States - and it is constitutionally protected. The ACLU has long defended individuals, families, and religious communities who wish to manifest their religion in public. ( Learn More) Particularly when compared to other industrialized democracies, religion plays a prominent role in American public life. Churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, cathedrals, and Gurdwaras are plainly visible in the public sphere, and their right to display religious symbols and to construct religious edifices is protected by the Constitution and by statutes.
4The ACLU has supported the right of people to preach their religion in public places and to go door-to-door to spread their religious messages. The Constitution properly protects the right of religious figures to preach their messages over the public airwaves. Religious books, magazines, and newspapers are freely published and delivered through the U.S. Postal System. No other industrialized democracy has as much religion in the public square as does the United States.
Some people, however, mistakenly use the word "public" when they really mean "governmental." This can be seen, for example, with Ten Commandments monuments. The right of churches and families to erect such monuments on their own property is constitutionally protected, regardless of whether they are private or visible to the public, and regardless of whether someone is offended or not. A Christian cross that is fully visible from a public sidewalk is constitutionally protected when placed in front of a church by a church. But if the government were to move that same cross across the street and place it in front of city hall, it would violate the Constitution. The issue is not "religion in the public square" - as the rhetoric misleadingly suggests - but whether the government should be deciding whose sacred texts and symbols should be placed on government property and whose should be rejected.
Read a more complete statement of the ACLU on religion.
5 John Gibson, The War on Christmas (New York: Sentinel, 2005), xviii.
|
