the “war on Christmas”?

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All of you who have been following me know that I am a conservative Christian. I define that as a person who adheres to the Apostle’s Creed, who believes in a personal relationship with a living God. But because I define myself that way doesn’t mean I’m hateful, judgemental or arrogant in the practice of my faith. Far from it.

I’m accepting of those who legitimately practice a different faith (as long  their beliefs are not hateful or harmful to other people).I never push my beliefs on other people. As I like to say, “I’m no one’s Holy Spirit”. It’s not my job. That’s God’s. My job is to live what I believe and to share my beliefs when asked.

Now having said all that, what’s that got to do with the “war on Christmas”? I watch Fox news and I watch  MSNBC news. I purposefully expose myself to both sides of the political coin. But I’m getting tired of the conservative news programs that rehash this “war on Christmas” every year. Is there even one?

I guess if you consider that some cities are barring nativity scenes and that some people suggest we say “Happy Holiday” rather than “Merry Christmas, than there’s a war on Christmas. But here’s what I believe.

Is our faith so fragile that it depends on people who don’t believe the way we do anyway, to accommodate us?  No one prevents me from setting up my own nativity scene. (By the way, we do have a nativity scene on display on our property.) No one can stop me from saying “Merry Christmas” to whomever I choose. Likewise, if someone chooses to put a display on their property that is against my personal beliefs-oh, well. It’s their property after all. Is someone chooses to say to me, “Happy Kwanza, or Happy Hanukkah”, can’t I be gracious enough to smile in return? What’s the matter with we Christians that we’ve become so “sensitive”, we react to everything.

Shouldn’t we be more concerned about living our faith in such a way that we attract people to our beliefs? Yes, we should take a stand when it violates our personal religious freedom. But we should also realize that this is a country that guarantees freedom of religion for everyone. That means a certain amount of acceptance of their practices. It doesn’t mean we compromise our own beliefs. It doesn’t mean we don’t speak up when we need to. It doesn’t mean we don’t advocate that freedom of religion does apply to we Christians as well.

But why make the most wonderful season of the year a platform for political wrangling? Why take Christ’s birth and turn it into a negative. I choose not to.

Lots of Christians are probably going to take offense at what I’ve written. . So be it. It’s called “freedom of speech” and it comes on the heels of ‘freedom of religion”.

(If you scroll down, you will see that I’ve listed links that give both sides of this controversy. You see, I’m fair.)

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