An ACLU Christmas

by Gene Shelburne

One of my favorite writers, Victor Knowles, tells of seeing a great cartoon last Christmas.

In the picture a group of carolers are belting out, “I’m dreaming of a white non-government-sanctioned unspecified late December nondenominationally celebrated holiday!” The husband at the door calls to his wife, “Quick, honey! It’s the ACLU carolers!”

You have to laugh at it. Because if you didn’t, you’d cry. Right?

I wonder if the major corporate advertisers of America realize how offensive their neutered “Christmas” greetings are to those of us who have committed our lives to Christ. Afraid of offending their non-Christian customers, they offer sanitized “Season’s Greetings.” Carefully avoiding any mention of the One whose birth caused the holiday. Thereby insulting all of us who believe in Him.

What would people think if I asked my Jewish friends to avoid all mention of Yom Kippur or Hanukkah or Passover lest they offend any sensitive Christian within earshot? What if I asked them to expunge the traditional symbols of their faith from all business or personal publications?

I would be perceived as a needlessly uptight bigot, wouldn’t I? And rightly so. Jewish people have a right to believe and to express their faith.

Asking Christians to leave Christ out of Christmas is no less an affront. Requiring us to accept a Christ-less Christmas out of respect for other faiths is to ask far more of Christians than anybody would dare to impose on others.

Trying to participate in Christmas cheer while banishing Christ from sight or sound is like trying to celebrate the 4th of July while prohibiting any reference to America or freedom.

In the past decade ACLU-types prescribing legal baccalaureate prayers have systematically eradicated any use of our Lord’s holy name. The same contorted political correctness that tells Christians who pray in public to say only generic prayers would now have us accept a generic Christmas. I respectfully refuse. Why would people who confess Christ as their Lord ever agree to pretend even for a moment that they are not Christians? Especially in a public setting. Especially during the holy days of their faith.