Did Jesus come to Earth to have his birthday celebrated or to teach mankind something and expect mankind to follow what he said?
If Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus and Jesus came here to teach us and to lead us into better behavior towards our fellow men and women, then wouldn't the way to acknowledge his birthday and to celebrate it, be to implement his teachings?
If a right-winger brings up this issue, I would just ask him or her, "If you're so concerned about celebrating Christmas and acknowledging it, why don't we acknowledge it and celebrate it in a meaningful manner? How about we all agree, those of us who already have more than enough, no gift-giving? We'll give all our gifts to those who have nothing.
This whole "attack on Christmas" propaganda campaign would be funny if it weren't so tragic. Every year under George W. Bush, poverty has gone up. Under his tenure, the number of Americans without health care insurance has gone up. Hunger has gone up. All this is from the government's own statistics.
Now what is Jesus' prime teaching to us about how we're supposed to interact with our fellow human beings? It's that we have to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, minister to the sick, be kind to the stranger. That's what Jesus wants us to do. So how better to celebrate the birth of Jesus than to do these things?
After all, Jesus said how you treat the least of these is how you treat Him. On his birthday, shouldn't we strive to treat Him -- in the guise of the poor, the "least of these" -- especially kindly?
How much more so is this appropriate to right-wing Christians who spend all year doing the opposite, trying to make sure that our society does not use its collective resources - the power of government -- to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, minister to the sick, greet the stranger?
And now, at the very time of the year when they should most be doing these things, right-wingers raise another one of their phony wedge issues.
"Oh, we have to call a Christmas tree a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree. Stores must put Christmas in their advertising. Don't tell anyone "Happy Holidays," tell them "Merry Christmas."
That's what right-wingers would have you believe that Christmas is all about -- that Jesus is all about. What a perversion of the holiday, what a perversion of the teachings of Jesus, what a dishonoring of Jesus Christ!
The anti-Christmas forces that Bill O'Reilly, John Gibson, and the others are ranting and raving about are no one other than themselves. They're waging the war on Christmas. They're waging the war on Jesus.
This article is adapted from a segment of the Blast the Right podcast. http://www.therationalradical.com/podcast.html Jack Clark is a retired attorney now working full-time to advance progressive causes
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
