Is there a war on Christmas? It's not that simple

“Whatever this is, Hermione, it’s not simple,” Harry Potter tells his best friend in the fifth film of the series of the same name. And that’s what I keep thinking as I watch the annual “War on Christmas/Christianity” being waged.

This whole meme strikes me as another manufactured crisis drummed up to getting credulous Christians up in arms over the separation of church and state, which was developed, ironically, to protect the practice of faith.

Are you confused? Well, the older I get the more I’m coming to accept that many of the solutions we seek are “counter-intuitive.” In other words, they are not simple. And the separation of church and state is but one example.

I choose to address this now because it keeps coming up. I had a woman recently express surprise when I mentioned I’d sung The Hallelujah Chorus four consecutive years when I was in public high school. “Really?” she asked incredulous. For my part, I was surprised anyone would think the song forbidden. I don’t think of that song as religious so much as a classical piece of music history. And that highlights how much our individual viewpoints can vary.

Having served for seven-plus years on a school board, I’d like to add that we didn’t get too fussed about separation of church and state. We tried to follow the law, which prohibits teaching the practices of ANY faith in a public school. However, religious texts can be studied as literature or different religions as cultural history. Faith groups were welcome to use our facilities as a meeting space when available; we offered, with the help of the local ministerial association, an optional baccalaureate for graduates. We tried to honor Wednesday evenings as a time for church activities.

As a Christian in this country, I have never felt discriminated against or persecuted because of my faith. I’d note public institutions’ more careful adherence to the separation of church and state in recent years. But as a country growing ever more diverse and having family of another faith myself, I accept these changes as proof of our country’s guarantee that all beliefs will be respected in our civic life. I take that guarantee as a protection, rather than an assault. When and if I become a minority, I would welcome those protections, wouldn’t you?

And regarding Christmas, how can we complain? Isn’t Christmas the only religious holiday in our country written into the federal holiday calendar? Frankly the only war on Christmas I see is the way American business has used it to sell, sell, sell. It’s a marketing bonanza.

So where do these feelings of persecution toward Christmas/Christianity come from? Because from my perspective, there is no war on Christianity. Instead I feel others are using the Christian label to separate me from my Jewish, agnostic, Islamic, etc., brothers and sisters. As I celebrate the birth of the one my church calls The Prince of Peace, I suggest we abandon this war of words.

Merry Christmas AND Happy Holidays.