It is that time of year.  That post where I get berated for being inclusive instead of exclusive.  I hear how offensive it is to wish someone to be well, and to have a Happy Holiday.  Yes, once again, more people are joining in on the faux War on Christmas.  This game, started (as far as I know) by Bill O’Reilly, a man so whacked, that even the top brass at Fox News don’t like him, has now been carried on by others, including this year, a particularly idiotic piece by Michael Reagan.

I find it “particularly idiotic” because he is clearly transparent in his attack.  He blames “a handful of secular progressives who loathe Christianity and any celebration associated with it.”  Apparently, it would never pierce his thin skin to realize that a Jewish person may not want to be wished a “Merry Christmas” any more than he would like to be wished a “Happy Kwanzaa.”  He doesn’t want to appear quite this crass, so he tries to bury the whole thing as people out to “destroy Christmas.”  While I do not doubt or deny there may be a few nuts out there that have this thought, most simply would like to be recognized for their beliefs even if they aren’t Christian.  Recognition that while a majority of people may in fact be Christian, we are not a theology, and that their rights and beliefs are not any better or worse.  

For all his claims to the otherwise, nobody is actually attempting to stop anybody from having a Merry Christmas, or for Christians to celebrate and recognize Christmas as the high holy holiday that it is for them.  They just don’t want to participate (and perhaps that is the problem for single minded morons like this).

He forgets, while claiming that it is “a birthday not a holiday” that the holiday has been around much longer.  I won’t go into the details about previous silliness or the historical moving of  Jesus’ birthday to coincide with the holiday, I have documented that previously, and most rational folks already know this.  But apparently he doesn’t see the irony in his own statements:

My fellow Christians should join me in pledging never again to shop in any commercial establishment where the clerks greet us with that “Happy Holiday” greeting as an insult to our religious beliefs, just as we must defend the exhibition of the menorah or other Jewish symbols at Hanukkah.

Just what Jewish symbols is he supposedly defending by demanding that it is “Merry Christmas” or nothing? And am I the only one that finds it humorous that he complains that about people being “forced” into saying “Happy Holidays” but now he wants to blackmail commercial establishments by threatening to not shop their unless he is greeted as he expects. And he goes on to say, “Have a Merry Christmas. And don’t be afraid to say that loud and clear to everyone.”  That’s right.  Don’t give a damn about who you may offend, because you are a Christian, and as such have a right to offend whomever you wish, at least according to Reagan.

So why is this?  Why is it that being inclusive to spread love to everyone so darn “offensive” to some Christians?  Does “Peace on Earth and goodwill toward man” only apply to a select few?  As the old saying goes, “Can’t we all just get along?”  Do you really need to have a crusade?

Whether it is Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Blessed Yule, Happy Kwanzaa, I wish you and yours the best for a happy and healthy Holiday Season.