Story originally printed in the Coulee News or online at www.couleenews.com
Published - Thursday, December 07, 2006
All quiet on the holiday war front
The annual Christmas wars, pitting right-wing commentators against the supposed enemies of Christ, seem to be getting off to a slow start this year.
The only real controversy I’ve read about takes place in Chicago, where the city has convinced distributors of a holiday movie, “The Nativity Story,” not to advertise during the annual Christkindlmarket, a German-style festival in Daley Plaza.
The movie had its official premiere Nov. 27 in the Vatican and it is now being screened in several Madison theaters. There has been no controversy surrounding the film, which basically tells the biblical story of the birth of Jesus.
Even the Chicago uproar is tempered somewhat by the fact that there is an actual Nativity scene displayed in the Plaza, along with the requisite menorah and Islamic crescent displays.
WorldNetDaily, an online news and commentary service, says it isn’t waiting for the anti-Christmas forces to act. It is selling, for $2.99 each, magnets in the shape of Christmas trees proclaiming “The Reason for the Season.”
This, the Web site promises, is a way to strike a pre-emptory blow.
“Were you tired of the annual ritual of Christmas-tree burnings and nativity-scene demolitions?” WorldNetDaily asks. “Are you sick of being on the defensive each year as the American Civil Liberties Union wars against God in the public square? ... This year, you won’t have to wait for the first salvo to be fired by the ACLU. This year, it’s your turn to go on the offensive for a politically incorrect, but spiritually correct, Thanksgiving and Christmas season.”
Just for the record, there is no “annual ritual” of Christmas-tree burnings and Nativity-scene demolitions. Indeed, I don’t recall hearing of even one such instance.
The ACLU hasn’t protested the religious scenes in the state Capitol (which now includes a placard from the Freedom From Religion Foundation) and it isn’t involved in the Chicago controversy.
But you can’t raise money on the basis of no controversy, so those who want to convince the faithful that Christianity has real enemies keep trying to fan the embers.
And there are some embers. A year ago, even President Bush was attacked as being soft on Christmas, mainly because his official holiday card quoted an Old Testament scripture.
Fox News television star Bill O’Reilly insisted, not only on his show but on the David Letterman show, that Ridgeway Elementary School in the Dodgeville School District was staging a pageant that replaced the song “Silent Night” with some non-Christian words.
O’Reilly referred to the “Ridgeway Elementary School in Dodgeville, Wisconsin,” when it is in fact in Ridgeway, and got all the other facts wrong, too, but that didn’t quell a national controversy based on nothing but misunderstanding and distortion.
A number of conservative groups threatened to boycott chains such as Wal-Mart that used the expression “Happy Holidays,” rather than “Merry Christmas.” This year, Wal-Mart announced it will once again promote Christmas. Spokeswoman Linda Blackley said “We’re not afraid to use the term ‘Merry Christmas.’ We’ll use it early and we’ll use it often.”
So Christmas, apparently, is now safe for commerce, which may, in fact, be the “reason for the season” in our commercial world.
Reach Bill Wineke at bwineke@madison.com or at 252-6146. Read Bill Wineke’s blog at www.madison.com/wsj/blogs
All stories copyright 2006 Coulee News and other attributed sources.