Reconsider your position on the “War on Christmas”

This time of year there is much talk of a “War on Christmas,” as if opposition to religious public displays of affection are the new thing. Such opposition is really nothing new. In fact, there is another commemoration this time of year that speaks directly to the issue of religious public displays of affection.

Imagine a time when your rights to live and worship as you see fit are persecuted and you are required to recognize the highest political leader as your lord and savior. Imagine a time when your homes and place of worship are threatened by a government that taxes you to enhance sports arenas that glorify their gods of war. Imagine that this is encouraged by those who live hundreds of miles away, and implemented by local puppet officials. This was the case less than 200 years before the event that many commemorate as Christmas.

In response, the people from whom the Christ came, did not ask for their appointed times to be recognized by those outside their community. However, they did rebel in order to regain their right to simply be left alone to live and worship as they saw fit. Upon succeeding in this, they established the feast of Chanukah to commemorate this success. It seems ironic, in light of this, that the commemoration of a real war on religious public displays of affection should be totally ignored by most of those who insist that others publically commemorate, from Thanksgiving to December 25, the birth of the One, who Himself, recognized this “feast of the Jews.”

So, before going out to fight against the “War on Christmas,” maybe we should take a moment this next week to give thanks for our right to simply be left alone.

Dave Miller, Ritzville