The War On Christmas

Posted by Mark Radulich on 12.19.2005

‘Tis the season to be a polemic!

Actually that's not really fair. John Gibson, author of the best seller, "Hating America," and anchor of Fox News Channel's, "The Big Story," has written a reasonably rational book cataloging events where the federal holiday, Christmas, seems to be under attack in several school districts and municipalities throughout America. "The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought," isn't nearly as bad as the title makes it sound.

First, this is not an opinion piece like an Ann Coulter or Michael Savage book. Gibson editorializes somewhat, but his thoughts are not what comprises most of the volume. Instead, as stated above, what Gibson does is break the book down chapter by chapter based on a town where something happened that appeared to be -- or was absolutely meant to be -- a threat toward the public celebration and recognition of the Christmas holiday. The chapters take place in Covington, Georgia; Mustang, Oklahoma; Baldwin City, Kansas; Plano, Texas; Eugene, Oregon; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Maplewood, New Jersey. The narrative comes from Gibson's first person interviews with the players of each chapter.

At 29-years-old, I can still vividly remember how my public elementary school in Uniondale, Long Island in New York plastered the halls and classrooms with Christmas trees, Santa Claus, stars (not the Jewish kind) and decidedly secular but appropriate snowflakes. On the calendar, plain as day, it read for the last two weeks of December, "Christmas Break." This theme followed when my family moved to the other side of Nassau County and I attended Plainedge Public High School. Though my school had a large population of Jewish families, the last two weeks of school were known as the "Christmas Break." To my recollection, not a single Jewish kid cared in the slightest why they were getting nearly two weeks off from school.

Therein lies the problem, which is the impetus for Gibson's book.

Lawsuits have made city and school officials very gun shy. Most days, one can read in the news of a person or group that is suing to remove some staple of American society with roots in Christian iconography. Some of the more famous ones have been the bust of the 10 Commandments on the steps of an Alabama courthouse (the one that got Roy Moore fired) and the suit that asked for "Under God" to be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance. However, liberal-secular groups who are fighting against the public display and apparent government-sanctioned promotion of Christian symbols under the guise of keeping Church and State separate, are not stopping there.

One of their major battlegrounds, as Gibson points out, is the school system. Apparently, schools are easy to bully because they don't have the funds to fight the ACLU or any other well-funded organization connected with high-priced attorneys. Also, schools tend to be havens for progressive thought and as of late, the progressives of this country seem to be threatened by a perceived takeover from the evangelical right-wing of the political spectrum.

The game has been to slowly but surely threaten the schools with a lawsuit for a public display of an offensive image, like a Christmas tree. Since the schools rarely have the resources to fight back, said offensive tree or image comes down and is replaced with a milquetoast display representing something that has little or nothing to do with the holiday. Usually when this happens, the parents in that school district revolt against the school and that's where Gibson is coming from in the "War on Christmas."

If nobody really cared much, then he could not and would not have written this book. But people are angry. I'm not particularly religious per se and I certainly have no great affection for celebrating Christmas personally, but one would be hard-pressed not to feel like they were being attacked for being a Christian when you're told that Christian icons are offensive in public and a threat to the republic, while Jewish icons (like the menorah) or Islamic icons (like the star and crescent) are culturally acceptable. This country is 70% or 80% Christian (practicing or not), and frankly many people have had enough of being told that their beliefs are offensive. That is really what this book is about.

"The War on Christmas" is an informative rallying cry for those folks who feel like that majority is being persecuted. What makes it a particularly effective book is that it is told from the perspective of those who were involved in the various controversies. For the most part, those who were responsible for removing a Christmas tree, or Santa Claus, or the colors red and green, or even the word "Christmas" from the school calendar were not villainous goblins or heartless Scrooges bent on hurting little children. Many thought they were doing the right thing and were trying to protect their schools and the children therein from the hysteria of needless lawsuits and tabloid publicity. These are particularly human stories and that is what makes the book readable.

Gibson seems to have a handle on the legal aspects of liberals calling Christian symbols an attack on the separation of Church and State, and his book has many references to prior legal precedents. Also, though it is clear that Gibson has a bias that is as plain as the nose on his face, it doesn't really resonate throughout the narrative the way one might think. He is fair to those with whom he disagrees, and with the exception of the last two chapters and a few lines here and there, he pretty much lets the events and the people who took part in them tell the stories for themselves.

If this had been all Gibson and no interviews, it probably would not have been a very good read. One can only take so much of a man ranting at you, which is why I can't read a Sean Hannity or Michael Savage book, despite being moderately conservative. Gibson didn't do that here. Obviously he steered the book toward his audience of Fox News watchers, but that is to be expected.

All in all, for the political junkie looking for some festive holiday reading, "The War on Christmas," is pretty good and makes a lovely gift.

Happy Holidays! See you next year.