The Christmas War

Sometimes when you win you lose, and when you lose you win

(Lautzu)

For years now we have been hearing the rants from the conservative right about the war on Christmas. This year, events took a surprising turn. An organization called "Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good" has placed an ad that criticizes Bill for suggesting there is a secular war on Christmas.

In an "Open Letter to Christmas Culture Warriors" it stated

"We believe the real assault on Christmas is how a season of peace, forgiveness and goodwill has been sidelined by a focus on excessive consumerism," the letter states. "The powerful message Christ brings to the world is `good news for the poor.' Instead, Christmas is being reduced to a corporate-sponsored holiday that idolizes commerce and materialism."

To honor the word of Christ, Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, said "Christmas marks a season of hope, peace and the light of justice illuminating the dark corners of our world,"

Alexia continues "At a time when soldiers and innocent civilians are dying in a real war in Iraq and 37 million Americans live still in poverty we should be focusing on those moral scandals not having petty shouting matches on television about a supposed `secular conspiracy' to subvert Christmas." (Source)

In a December 4 interview Alexia said to O'reilly ""We don't loathe you, Bill, and we really want to invite you to join our campaign. But we felt that some of your words around this issue were divisive. We want to change the subject away from the symbols and the shopping to the real message of Christmas, which is to be with our families and friends and to focus on Jesus' message."

The Factor accused Kelley of naïveté. "A few years ago there was a movement to wipe out all vestiges of Christmas in the public square. If I had not done that campaign, the forces of darkness would have won. But we won, and to diminish what we did is wrong."

If I remember correctly, O'reilly continued, How is life in the land of Ozz?

I can answer that. We sit around the campfire and sing Kumbaya. It's not that we are naive, it is because we are looking for hope. The forces of darkness that we fight are a bit more sinister than the ACLU.

Kozzmo