As long as this is a delusion in my mind, however, I can say it. Sort of like saying we're a Christian nation, or there's a War on Christmas. We're a great country because I can say junk like this and unless I threaten someone while doing it I don't go to jail, although when I used to be critical of President Bush, which was pretty much 24/7, I was a lot more nervous than when I criticize President Obama. With President Obama I sense he has the confidence in his plan that he really could care less what I criticize, even when I criticize "does he have a plan," like for Iraq, like for Afghanistan, like for healthcare, like for the economy. All these things deserve criticism. Difference between the two is I'm not worried about the current Vice President shooting me in the face--on purpose.
A long way around to say the War on Christmas is a delusional fantasy. I only wish these folks who are promoting this idea of a War on Christmas would let me know what it is they are smoking because I've done a whole lot of drugs and I have never been that detached from reality. Never.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak out for me.
I won't argue the majority of folks in our country call themselves Christian. I think this is a true statement. I also think most probably need to examine their behaviors and come back to that statement afterwards and maybe realize going to some building once a week and praying to the clouds isn't what this Christianity thing is all about.
I also don't know what the beliefs of all the white guys who wrote our Declaration of Independence and Constitution and Bill of Rights were. I've read a bunch of junk that seems to suggest many of them would not argue with someone who said "there is a God and he had a son." At the same time I look at the phenomenal experiment they helped to create and wonder what they'd think of all this War on Christmas boggledly-goop.
Our country seemed to be founded by religious fanatics attempting to avoid what they perceived as persecution, which, since a bunch of times they were thrown in prison, drowned, crucified or otherwise had whatever rights stomped on, is probably not that far from accurate. And when they got here they sort of set up their own little kingdom of intolerance.
Around 2,000 years ago a baby was born and there was this really big star and three wise men followed the star and gave this kid all sorts of stuff and then he grew up and walked on water and healed the sick and other magical things.
A couple hundred years ago a bunch of guys from the "old country" wrote this rather amazing and insightful document that established a country guaranteeing a bunch of stuff. And even though these men lied about some things like "all men are created equal" (they still aren't), they did a fairly decent job of creating a new nation.
In my head creating a new nation is a pretty big deal and I'm not sure I could have guessed as good as these guys guessed because, at the time, remember, they were driving around in horse drawn carriages and using bird feathers to write with and had guns that fired one shot and news of something that happened a couple of states away might take weeks to get from the point of origin to a house on the frontier, or might never get there. But they guessed at the needs of a nation they could not envision pretty good.
One of the basic tenets of this work was "freedom of religion." But the most important tenet of this work was that each of us has a voice, we're all created equal and that we're endowed by our Creator (there's that God-reference thing, but I've always wondered why not just say "God?") with certain inalienable rights and of these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And they said these rights could not be abridged. They couldn't be abridged by government (and, yes, I know they have been--whoop-tee-do) and by extension they couldn't be abridged by religion.
So, I don't have a War on Christmas. My War, if that's the right word, is with the folks who report a "War on Christmas" because we, other Americans, want to include people who are not of our faith, or perhaps those who purport to have no faith at all. We want to include these folks not because we believe in their beliefs, but because we believe in the basic tenets of America.
Our nation will be a Christian nation when we start behaving in all things as Christians, but, then, I would simply make a twofold argument: first, this nirvana will never happen, and second, I would argue that we are only behaving the way Americans should behave not as domineering crusaders, but as the richest and truly most powerful nation on Earth because true power is the exercise of beliefs and not the exercise of might. I believe this to be the vision our founding fathers had for this country. They were not concerned with Christmas trees and crosses and presents and the other drivel that has so bastardized this ridiculous holiday.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, or a happy holiday, or some good food or whatever. My Christian friends always tell me it's not that big a deal and I'm good with that.
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