Take Back Christmas...Nicely!

Two years ago, I wrote the following draft of a proposal to seek to protect our Christian holiday, specifically, our Judeo-Christian heritage generally, and true religious liberty overall. Since then, I have pondered whether an aggressive, legal approach is appropriate for those who follow the Prince of Peace, who said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Yet, in times of war, I don’t believe He prohibits our fighting in defense of life and liberty, and this has become such a “war” in our culture. Authentic peacemakers fight for peace, never forgetting that the goal isn’t to obliterate the enemy but to redeem him (or her), if possible.

A Proposal for a Campaign
to Restore Christian Liberty and Free Speech in America
by J. Roger Wilson, December, 2005

I, for one, am not going to take it anymore!

Do you understand what is really happening to Christmas? Preachers have challenged Christians for years to keep Christ in Christmas to keep it from becoming a virtually secular celebration. On the other side, ACLU lawyers have worked overtime to force public institutions like schools to remove anything religious from their observances. Retail businesses depend on the big Christmas marketing season to balance their books and give them a good profit for the year. Yet, those very same businesses, like Wal-Mart, the largest, have stopped saying “Merry Christmas,” for the more generic “Happy Holidays.” People love decorations so much that they will pay $1500 to have lights put up for Christmas. The visible celebration grows bigger every year, while the origin and meaning are systematically eviscerated, with malice of forethought by a handful of powerful secularists.

What seems like a love/hate attitude about Christmas is, I believe, something far worse. It appears that certain influences in America want to take over Christmas. In other words, they want to steal a religious holiday from those who most revere it. This is a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which, more than anything else, protects religion from government intrusion. Too often, lawyers use it to “secularize” Christmas, like stopping the singing of religious carols in schools, banning nativity scenes from public land, and removing Christianity specifically from American life. Unlike school prayers, however, they haven’t managed to ban the Christmas holiday, just its sacred and public observance.

If that isn’t enough, many in places of influence are voluntarily doing the same. Schools, for example, have done fare more than what the courts have ordered. One school even banned Santa Claus, as a religious figure, though that connection is remote, rarely noted, and commonly unknown. Many authorities have begun calling Christmas trees “holiday trees” and stores have eliminated the word Christmas from their advertising. They, too, want to have it both ways: the sales and profit without the name Christmas. This is political correctness and multiculturalism run amok. I believe it is time to put a stop to this violation of Christian traditions.

This “problem” has three possible outcomes. One, by doing nothing, Christians will lose their holiest days—Christmas and Easter. Two, Christians may decide to retreat entirely from public celebration and establish a sacred holiday to observe privately. This option has the merit of leaving gifts, inappropriate parties, and Santa Claus behind, but it fails to address the larger problem. Three, Christians could demand, via legal action, that America “take it or leave it!” In other words, find the appropriate cases or organizations, such as the ACLU, and sue them for violation of the First Amendment. Make the case clear that Christmas is a Christian holiday and that the sacred may not be removed or diluted by secular, unbelieving agencies. Their choices would be to celebrate Christmas in all the ways that have grown around the holiday or cease and desist any and all observance of Christmas, apart from Christian believers, churches, homes, and businesses. The latter course would, of necessity, prohibit all Christmas marketing, all office parties, all secular only music or decorating, anything associated with December 25 not directly connected to and controlled by the Christian Church, congregations, families, individuals, and organizations.

The “remove Christ from Christmas” march must stop. I recommend a 4-step strategy to protect Christmas, the liberty of Christians in the United States, and genuine religious freedom overall. I would include the following, making every effort to maintain a dignified and peaceable attitude that brings honor to our Savior Jesus Christ.

First, begin a “Merry Christmas” campaign. I urge all Christians, others who enjoy all of the traditions of Christmas, and even those of other faiths who value the full historic tradition of religious liberty in America, as opposed to the current secularizing trend, to say, “Merry Christmas,” at every appropriate opportunity. This is not a campaign to offend. Rather it is a joyful, loving counter to the sterilizing influences of the vocal anti-Christian, anti-religious minority. In general, it will be a reminder that Christians are still a substantial majority in America; more specifically, it will demonstrate to merchants, in particular, in a kind and gentle way, that we are the source of the profits they value and depend upon. “Merry Christmas” is pleasant yet firm display of our power, should we decide to use it.

Second, begin a state-by-state referendum to allow the American voters to affirm the sanctity of Christmas, preserve the full legal protection of Christianity as provided by the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment, and reaffirm the original sense of the First Amendment as banning government, including the courts’, intrusion into and regulation of religion.

Therefore, I offer the following proposal as the basis for collecting signatures to put this matter on state ballots:

“As American history, the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and long-standing tradition have established “free exercise of religion” as the law of the land and guaranteed all religions protection from government interference, we, from now on, declare that Christmas and Easter are Christian holy days whose public observance may not be regulated, restricted, or altered by any private or governmental authority, except those of the various Christian churches. Recognizing the Christian contribution to American history, the majority presence of Christian citizens, and a long, established history of public celebration, we further welcome all citizens to share the joy of these holidays, with the understanding that they are Christian remembrances of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, to be respected accordingly.”

Third, if or as necessary, file suit against any individual or organization, including the ACLU or the government of the United States, that seeks to regulate, restrict, or alter the public celebrations of Christmas or Easter or deny Christians their full rights of religious liberty or free speech and, in particular, religious speech. Further, it will also be a goal to find the appropriate cases in which to seek to challenge current precedents, including but not limited to:

1) ending the exclusion of sacred Christian music from school Christmas programs;

2) restoring Christian symbols, often exclusively prohibited, for display on public land;

3) assuring the protection of religious speech (including prayer) by disqualifying “potential offense” of a non-Christian or non-religious person as sufficient grounds for restriction (since it is the very nature of free speech that it may offend those who disagree);

4) establishing, once and for all, that the so-called “separation of church and state” is not, and never was, the intent of the First Amendment (but rather a relatively recent departure from history and the language of the Constitution), and re-establishing its meaning to be the prohibition of government or court intrusion into religion, and, finally,

5) affirming plainly and with suitable documentation that religion, at the time of the adoption of the Bill of Rights, referred primarily to Christian denominations, and that Christian influence was an integral part of early American history and government that is clearly evident in our historic documents.

Fourth and last, since the Bible, Old and New Testaments, has always been an important spiritual and historical book that provided a unifying Judeo-Christian ideology for the American people, we would seek, in every way possible, to restore its presence in the lives and homes of the American people. Since the very freedoms responsible for the unique success of this nation are anchored in Biblical stories and ideas; we must not ignore, forget, or reject our common Judeo-Christian heritage.

* * * * * *

Two years later, my opinions haven’t really changed, except to note that Christians won’t “win” anything if we act like pagans. Legal options are our right as American citizens, as long as we don’t use them against each other (I Corinthians 6). When we are under attack, as we, our faith, and our holiday are, we may choose to fight back. We may not, under any circumstances, stop being the disciples of Jesus, who said the world would recognize us as His, by our love. I don’t care how adversarial and hostile politics, sports, or talk shows become, He has not released us to behave otherwise (even if we are accustomed to doing so at church!).

Therefore, I might add a qualification to the above recommendations: When and if you go to court, do the extraordinary, do what rarely happens, go and be nice.