There’s just something about Christmas  – celebrated in many nations and cultures as a reminder that a benevolent God came to earth to offer salvation and eternity with Him – that makes people go … well, a little crazy.
How else can one explain the stunning claim by entertainer Whoopi Goldberg that the “right” to celebrate Christmas is the same as the “right” to abortion?
At Breitbart, Thomas Williams described it as a “truly bizarre leap of logic,” quoting Goldberg saying on “The View” that the Christmas celebration discussion is “the same conversation with a woman’s right to choose.”
“What I do with my body is my right. It is not your right to tell me. The same thing is it’s – if you believe in Christmas, it’s not my right – you know, I grew up and – and, you know, kids who didn’t go to Catholic school had Christmas and they – we never knew what their religions were, but we hung ’cause it was a Christmas holiday,” she said.
Or how can one explain the vehement claims by a university professor that “Santa Claus, evergreen trees or red-nosed reindeer” are “religious symbols”?
Reported Todd Starnes in his column: “I wonder if the professor knows if Santa and Rudolph showed up at the Nativity before or after the shepherds and the Wise Men? I can’t seem to find that information in my translation of the New Testament.”
Starnes was reporting on the antics of officials at Texas Woman’s University, whose agenda was revealed by Campus Reform.
Their plan was to offer suggestions for “December” office parties that are inclusive.
“Not all faith traditions have holidays in December, and not everyone identifies with a particular faith tradition,” the school’s Anna Ryan said.
Quoted was Mark Kessler, who is of the “multicultural women’s and gender studies.”
Apparently he’s not into “multicultural men.”
Drop “holiday,” he said to start.
“‘Holiday’ connotes religious tradition and may not apply to all employees.”
And he warned of other thin ice for those wanting a party.
“Avoid religious symbolism, such as Santa Claus, evergreen trees or a red nosed reindeer, which are associated with Christmas traditions. Excellent alternatives are snowflakes, snow men or winter themes not directly associated with a particularly holiday or religion.”
And no “Christmas carols,” he said. One should instead opt for “celebratory party music.”
Starnes continued: “Just imagine the festive scene at TWU’s all-inclusive winter shindig. Instead of scarfing down Little Smokies and shrimp cocktail, guests would be stuffing their faces with gluten-free hummus and Gefilte fish. So if you are one of the unfortunate souls who received an invitation, you might want to drop by the Chick-fil-A drive-thru before the party. I reached out to the university spokesperson to get the back story or at least some context on their Yuletide suggestions – but so far no one has returned my telephone call. Because as it now stands, it sure looks like the folks at Texas Woman’s University are a few nuts shy of a fruitcake.”
Then there are the more traditional pockets of opposition to anything Christmas, those who hate Nativity scenes, Christmas trees and Christmas music.
For example, school officials in Wake County, North Carolina, decided children no longer will be allowed to sing Christmas carols at an annual Nativity celebration.
It seems the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained.
“The whole purpose of the event is to display and honor nativity scenes, which highlight an exclusively Christian aspect of the holiday season, rather than a secular Christmas celebration,” a lawyer, Patrick Elliott, said for the group.
“Students are intentionally brought to the church to be exposed to hundreds of depictions of the Christian legend of Jesus’ birth.”
“Legend?” wondered Starnes.
The event is sponsored by the Church of the Latter-Day Saints in Apex, and Starnes said church spokesman Steve Bodhaine “assured me there has never been any proselytizing at the celebration.”
It seems the choirs had enjoyed performing in “such a beautiful venue.”
But not anymore, said Starnes, who described FFRF as “a bunch of mean-spirited Christophobic thugs who prey on small towns and innocent school children.”
Another fight has erupted, and already gone to the highest levels of Texas state government, over Charlie Brown’s Christmas.
The Daily Caller summarized the dispute: A teacher, Dedra Shannon of Patterson Middletown School in Killeen, Texas, was told to take down a poster of a scrawny tree, Linus and a recitation of the meaning of Christmas.
The school principal said non-Christian students might be offended by Linus’ line from that famous annual cartoon written by Charles Schultz.
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the Lord. That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
Then the state’s attorney general sent a letter asking the school to change the decision.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has held repeatedly that neither ‘students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,'” wrote Attorney General Ken Paxton.
He said his office would defend the school “in any frivolous litigation that might be filed that seeks to inhibit the religious expression and diversity of Killeen’s educational community.”
But the report said the school insisted on doubling down, warning that “employees are not permitted to impose their personal beliefs on students.”
Added the report, “The school did not indicate how Shannon was imposing her personal belief on students.”
The school board president, Terry Delano, was outvoted in an attempt to reverse course.
“The poster did not coerce anyone to be a Christian, in my opinion,” Delano said. “If this continues to be the trend, there will come a day where we can’t say ‘Christ-mas.'”
Then, WGNTV reported, there was the war in Knightstown, Indiana.
A city Christmas tree had a cross atop its branches, which was so powerful it was causing irreparable harm to a viewer.
In response, residents were placing crosses – all over.
A Facebook posting then said: “We can still light the town with crosses. Look on the bright side, instead of just one cross, we can now have hundreds, we can light them everywhere in town. All things happen for a reason, and this has united the town citizens. Make a statement and put your lit cross out for everyone to see.”
Residents did, putting them on porches, yards and fences.
One Fox commentator also decried the movement that now considers Christmas carols “microaggressions.”
The attacks on Christmas pop up every year, and the late commentator and conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly once wrote about it.
“The Butler Elementary School in Belmont, Massachusetts, for years has had a tradition of allowing kids to take a December field trip to see a performance of the Nutcracker ballet. The anti-Christian zealots in its Parent Teachers Association (PTA) developed a secret plan to cancel this outing because the ballet features a Christmas tree on the stage, which they called ‘questionable content.'” She wrote.
“When news of the secret plan leaked out, parents forced the issue to be confronted at a PTA meeting, but parents were accused of being discriminatory if they supported the trip to see the ballet. The good news is that common sense prevailed and parents won the Nutcracker battle – but many believe it will come up again next year and in other schools, too.”
“No town or school is too small to escape the wrath of those who hate Christmas. The atheists went after the annual Christmas parade in Piedmont, Alabama, a small town in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The Piedmont parade isn’t as spectacular as those in big cities, but it does feature the local high school marching band, Santa Claus on a bright red fire truck, local girls who had won beauty pageants and the Piedmont High School track team, which had just won the state championship.”
She continued: “When the parade committee selected ‘Keep Christ in Christmas’ as the theme of this year’s parade, nobody thought that was controversial. But suddenly the little Alabama town was confronted by a noisy group of atheists from Wisconsin called the Freedom From Religion Foundation.”
The result? “A threatening letter.” And the theme was dropped.
But, she wrote:”The folks in Piedmont were not intimidated. The mayor said, ‘We still have the same religious floats. We’re still going to have this wonderful Christian parade regardless of whether we have a theme or not.’ Local citizens paid their entry fees to be in the parade and marched alongside of the parade with signs reading ‘Let’s Keep Christ in Christmas.’
“The mayor had some advice for the one person in town who had complained: ‘If they don’t like a Christian parade, just stay at home and don’t watch.'”
Amid the attitudes steeped in pickle brine, however, there were points of light.
Such as the mail carrier and a Good Samaritan saving Christmas for many by emptying a mail truck full of packages when it caught fire.
Or the anonymous donor who paid for all the remaining trees being sold at a Catholic elementary school in Columbus, Ohio, so they could then be given away to those who needed one.
The dozens of trees had been priced at up to $50 at St. Mary School, and organizers posted on Facebook that they were free to anyone in need.
“Beautiful expression” of Christmas, said Principal Kayla Walton.
