It’s that special time of year ― when the criminally gullible buy into claims by conservative deity Bill O’Reilly and his cohorts that the United States is a Christian nation, and that subversive non-Christians are waging a war on Christmas.
O’Reilly is normally given credit for “exposing” this alleged conspiracy. But the history of this claim dates back almost six decades. According to RationalWiki:
Few people, even among those who promote this idea, know that its modern-day form started out as a conspiracy theory promulgated by groups affiliated with the John Birch Society. In 1959, [the Society] released a pamphlet called “There Goes Christmas,” [claiming] there was a new communist plot to “take the Christ out of Christmas” by replacing Christmas decorations with United Nations iconography. The Society claimed this formed part of a larger push to stamp out religion altogether and to cede U.S. sovereignty to the U.N. [The Society] urged members to boycott any stores with “inappropriate decorations.” (Grammar and punctuation corrected.)
(I don’t normally cite Wikis as primary sources. However, this listing offers a fresh and provocative take on the subject ― with the added bonus of registering nearly a perfect 10 on my snark meter. I suggest you check it out.)
Contemporary manifestations of the neoconservatives’ war against the “war on Christmas” include ludicrous diatribes about the generic design of Starbucks holiday-season coffee cups, Walmart greeters saying “Happy Holidays,” and a promise by President-elect Donald Trump in December 2016 that “We’re going to start saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again.” (Did people stop? I hadn’t noticed). Most recently ― as living proof that Bible-thumpers think their followers will believe anything ― televangelist Jim Bakker claims that “Merry Christmas” had been outlawed in the United States until Christians protested and reinstated it.
Truth be told, the real “Reason for the Season” is the December solstice, around which many pre-Christian pagan holiday celebrations, including the Yule log, centered. In addition, according to RationalWiki, the greeting “Happy Holidays” is applicable to a litany of special occasions in December, including Hanukkah, Chrismukkah (used by the more culturally tolerant to refer to the merging of Christianity’s Christmas and Judaism’s Hanukkah), Black Friday, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
The divisive effect of this war-on-Christmas talk ― which seems highly inappropriate during a time when Christians are celebrating the birth of their “Prince of Peace” ― is evidence of the fundamental mean-spiritedness of neoconservatives, the institutional bigotry of white Evangelicals, and the vitriolic politics of Trump.
As I’ll show directly, however, discussions about how to refer to the season surrounding the birthday of the fictional son of an imaginary deity are strictly academic.
When Was the Mythical Jesus ‘Born’?
The commonly accepted “birthday” of Jesus is December 25 in the year 1 C.E. (on which the current Gregorian/Christian calendar is based). But scholars agree that the Roman Catholic Church established that date because it coincided with the winter solstice, and because it would enable the church to hijack the festival celebrating the Roman god Saturn, as well as other pagan winter celebrations.
Some historians deduce the date of Jesus’ birth from the life and legend of Herod the Great, king of Judea (74/73 B.C.E.-4 B.C.E.). According to Matthew 2:1-23, shortly before Herod’s death he heard of the birth of the savior, felt threatened by him, and ordered the Slaughter of the Innocents — the killing of all male children under the age of two in the vicinity of Bethlehem. According to the book of Matthew, Joseph was warned of this plan in a dream, and fled to Egypt with Mary and the baby. This reasoning would have Jesus born sometime between 6 B.C.E. and 4 B.C.E . The historicity of Herod is well-documented. The Slaughter of the Innocents, however, is pure fiction, perhaps conflated from Herod’s record as a murderous ruler.
Some have attempted to determine Jesus’ birthday by considering astronomical events that would explain the appearance of the ”Star of Bethlehem” during that time period. For example, in 5 B.C.E., the Chinese recorded the passing of a slow-moving comet. Or, the Star of Bethlehem could have been the bright light of the convergence in the sky of Venus and Jupiter, which would have occurred on June 17, 2 B.C.E. (So much for a “White Christmas” in Vermont.) Similarly, Saturn and Jupiter converged in October of the year 7 B.C.E. Others say that because shepherds were watching their flocks as the star passed over, Jesus had to have been born in the spring. Hold those Hallmark e-cards until someone hammers this out.
One would think that all the machinations above could have been avoided had an All-knowing Deity taken the time to list the birth date of his Only Begotten Son in the Bible. But alas, theology doesn’t work that way.
So is the United States Really a ‘Christian Nation’?
The claim by Christianists that the United States is a Christian nation is to my mind the most far-reaching and pernicious component of their political-religious agenda. And it is exploited by far too many people with influence and political power. In fact, in 1994 retired Senator Barry Goldwater explained:
Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.
Countless gallons of printer’s ink, miles of paper, and millions of gigabytes of keyboard pecks have been invested in this subject, pro and con. But I won’t waste your time with all that minutia. Instead, I’ll reduce this argument to the following:
1) Let’s grant the Christianists the fact that the American Colonies and the United States have always had a Christian majority (most likely true), and that the majority of the Founding Fathers were Christian theists (doubtful during the Enlightenment). This presents the theocrats with an immediate and obvious problem with what the authors of our country had to say about this matter:
“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.” — Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1758)
“Christian establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects.” — James Madison, letter to William Bradford Jr. (1774)
“To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” — Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. V (1776)
“Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.” — Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)
“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr (1787)
“Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.” — Roger Sherman, Congress (1789)
“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people build a wall of separation between Church & State.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802)
“During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.” — James Madison, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1785)
2) Of course, the above was just quote mining. Any conscientious rightwing nutcase could troll the literature for other quotes from the same men that could in some way be interpreted as contradicting the above. Statements by the Founding Fathers have been the ammunition of both those who contend that the United States is a Christian nation and those who don’t since this controversy began. But these statements nonetheless do raise the question of why the authors of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights — in building a nation from scratch — did not declare the United States a “Christian nation” when they had the opportunity.
3) Lastly — and forget what the Founding Fathers had to say — what does the declaration and administration of a “Christian nation” mean to all those Americans who are non-Christians — concerning their civil liberties, how they are regarded by their Christian neighbors, and the free exercise of their religious beliefs and non-belief without Christianity being imposed upon them?
A June 2015 poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute regarding religion and patriotism found that 69 percent of Americans think that believing in God was “important” or “somewhat important” to being a true American. Fifty-three percent said that being a Christian was “important” or “somewhat important” to being patriotic.
Clearly, there is some education to be done here — one “Happy Holidays!” at a time.
Richard E. Wackrow is author of the book Beginner’s Guide to Blasphemy and president of the Flathead Area Secular Humanist Association in Montana.