Bless those who curse Christmas

For many years Christians have lamented the loss of reverence associated with the festival of the Nativity (Christmas). First we noticed that our natural focus on worldly goods in the form of gifts had become a distraction from the sacred. Then we saw marketing practices reinforcing that tendency by trying to broaden the massive gift purchasing as much as possible, downplaying the Christian nature of the holiday. Now we see the ACLU and other enemies of Christianity attacking public expressions of faith, especially in the Christmas season.

The war on Christmas continues unabated in this Year of our Lord 2006. Some retailers (Walmart, for example) have recognized the foolishness of offending the Christian majority, and have begun to use the C- word again. Most, however, persist in treating Christmas as a secular celebration of "the season," pointedly ignoring the Incarnation of Jesus. More seriously, ACLU-inspired overt attacks on public mention of Christmas have succeeded in many parts of America.

This year in Chicago, the city government pressured the sponsor of a Christmas festival to ban advertising for the movie, "The Nativity." Many cities have banned nativity displays and even Christmas trees and Santa Clause from public property.

But the worst offenders have been public school systems. First some schools outlawed Christmas carols. Now there are schools which prohibit even purely instrumental Christmas music; use of the word "Christmas" in spoken or written word; even the colors red and green for "holiday party" decorations. While all of this is taking place, many schools on the west coast hold mandatory classes in which students must use role-playing to learn about Islam. Clearly the secularist attack is focused primarily on Christianity.

The constitutional response to this is, of course, that the First Amendment was intended to protect religious practice from government, not the other way around. This principle is so firmly established and has been covered so often, including in my columns, that we won't go into it here. Any attempts by government at any level to suppress religious expression must be firmly resisted on constitutional grounds. Many have filed successful lawsuits against cities and school districts for this purpose.

Beyond the legal issues, how should Christians respond to snubs and insults against Christianity and Christmas by retailers and others? Anyone has as much right to say "happy holidays" or "bah humbug" as "Merry Christmas." What can we do short of violating the free speech of others?

Christianity and Christmas are all about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of a virgin on the day we are celebrating. What does He have to say about it? The first thing that comes to mind is Luke 6:27-28: "But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you."

The first part of applying this command to the situation is an attitude check. Make sure we aren't reacting out of pride or other selfish motive, but out of love for God, the Gospel and our neighbor. If we are just angry that our Christian majority has been insulted, we are unlikely to make a God- pleasing response.

There are two parts to implementing the praying and blessing part of Jesus's command. First, make sure we are really praying for the offending party, not using public prayer as a mere rhetorical device intended to shame our opponents.

As for the blessing, Christmas provides an ideal opportunity: just say "have a blessed Christmas." And really mean it.