Talking head Bill O’Reilly resurrects the “war on Christmas”.

Good freakin’ lawd. Let’s get a few things straight here…

1) NO ONE has stopped you, is stopping you, or will stop you from saying “Merry Christmas” to someone. That will not change…unless you work for a company where it is not allowed. When you’re at work, you have to abide by company rules, or you’ll be finding yourself in the unemployment line; and if company rules dictate you wish people “Happy Holidays”, so be it. On your own time, you can scream “Merry Christmas” from your rooftops.

2) Christmas is NOT under attack; it has NEVER been under attack. The concepts of Christmas still exist–from its original Pagan roots (on past December 25ths, people celebrated the Winter Solstice) to its Christianization by Constantine to the stories of Santa Claus. The real problem is some of you are making a mountain out of a molehill because people want to give out one greeting for everyone regardless of what they celebrate–be it Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Advent, Festivus, or–yes–even Christmas. If you want to get pissed off about something in this regard, how about…

• * how Christmas has become so commercialized over the years
• * various Christmas carols that are so sanitized, they make one forget about the harsh conditions in which the Christ-child was born (cases in point: “Away in a Manger”, “Silent Night”)
• * nativity scenes in general–another way to sanitize the Christmas scene (how many people do you know were born in a barn?)

Meanwhile, if you want to make Christmas truly Christ-centred again, I also suggest you stop putting up Christmas trees and mistletoe (don’t even kiss underneath it!), and don’t use a Yule log. All of them are Pagan traditions linked to Christmas.

3) “Holiday” = “HOLY Day”. I’d think the day designated to celebrate the birth of Christ is a holy day.

My new slogan: The “war on Christmas” is like the “war on drugs”: they’re both a load of crap.