'Tis the Season

Just when you thought that religious interest groups couldn't get more out of touch with reality, you have William A. Donahue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights stating that, "Ninety-six percent of Americans celebrate Christmas, spare me the diversity lecture," regarding his opinion that there is no need for the White House to be politically correct in their holiday greeting cards. However, a quick check over at the CIA World Factbook (which, last time I checked anyway, are ostensibly on the side of the American government, and have no mass orchestrated plans to silence Christmas) reveals that at the most seventy-eight percent of Americans celebrate Christmas (and that is a 2002 estimate).

I don't know about you, but I believe there is a big difference between those two numbers, especially when you realize that the remaining twenty-two percent of Americans who don't celebrate Christmas constitutes around 64.9 million people. That's no small change.

Personally, I love Christmas, it is my favorite holiday for many different reasons (the presents don't hurt either), and I also realize the possible hypocrisy of sending out a generic holiday card while claiming to be a born-again Christian (I am referring to the beliefs of our commander-in-chief, not myself, as this was cited in the aritcle I linked to above), but on the other hand, as a general rule (if not simply out of respect for other people's beliefs and a modicum of politeness), I don't write "Merry Christmas" on the cards I give to my Jewish and other non-Christian friends. Believe me, I would love to take any opportunity I can get to criticize the Bush administration, but in this case, amazingly, I have to say that he and his staff (let us not pretend this was an issue decided without any office discussion) made the right choice here. So, happy holidays to all of you and may love and respect for your fellow human be with you at the end of this year.