Kirk Cameron, Chuck Norris, and War on Christmas

It seems every year there is an outcry from Christians who bemoan culture’s lack of acceptance of Christmas displays and call it the War on Christmas. Kirk Cameron is the latest to defend Christians from a supposed secular atheist attack with a candy cane and Jesus snow globe. Even Chuck Norris is getting in on the War on Christmas with a drop kick of truth!

If there is a War on Christmas, then there must be casualties.

A War on Christmas means that people are not free to worship or celebrate Christ’s birth, right?  Where are the storm troopers coming into churches and shutting the place down? Why use such charged language of “war” like “war on terror”, “war on drugs”, and now “War on Christmas”? Rumor and speculation of a “war” via talking heads does not make a War on Christmas.

The truth is that there is no War on Christmas.

Gallup reports that 78% of people in this country are some type of Christian. About 93% of Americans celebrate Christmas. A recent Pew Research Poll found that 65% of Americans believe  in the Christmas story’s claims of the virgin birth, the magi, the angel’s announcement to the shepherds and Christ’s birth in a manger as historical events. And, 72% of Americans believe that Nativity scenes can be displayed on public property. There is clearly support for the religious trappings of Christmas.

There are those Christians who cry foul if a community center or town park does not include a Christmas tree. The difficulty of this protest is that Christmas trees or an evergreen tree has nothing to do with Jesus’ birth. Pagan Germanic peoples brought evergreens into their homes at the turn of winter. Northern European Christians converted the symbol of the evergreen tree to reflect God’s ever-growing presence in their lives. Most Christians in the 17th century rejected the evergreen tree as a Christian symbol, but it became popular in England and America in the last half of the 19th century.

Without really knowing it, modern Christians who protest the perceived secular War on Christmas actually buy into secularism with the promotion of a Christmas tree. The very objection of the government’s refusal for displaying a Christmas tree ignorantly accepts an object that has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Does that make a Christmas tree sacrilegious? No, but if you are dancing naked around an evergreen tree and worshiping the Norse god Anthony Hopkins Odin, I think Jesus would have a problem with that.

In reality, culture’s acceptance of displays of civil religion is not as powerful as it once was. That does not mean Christmas, Jesus, or God are under attack. It means that some no longer believe or feel that Jesus does not have as much importance in their life. That is not the fault of the government or culture, that is the fault of us Christians. We are the ones charged to be the keepers and messengers of the Christmas story and its message of salvation. The government, Walmart, or Hollywood are not the holders of our sacred traditions and beliefs.

This Christmas if you are joining forces with Kirk Cameron and Chuck Norris to fight the War on Christmas with “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays” or making sure your town has a Christmas tree, remember that Jesus Christ cannot be only contained in one just saying or symbol. God transcends such things.

If you truly want to celebrate Jesus’ birth then serve the least of these, give instead of receiving, and go to church and worship the King.