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11:45 PM - Another Offensive in the War on Christmas One of the most popular and relevant myths bandied about by conservative Christians this time of year (aside from the claim that the winter holiday season was originally rooted in Christian history and theology) is the dangerous conflation of the legal notion of government neutrality towards religious establishments and the commerical notion of reaching the broadest possible market by refraining from giving offense to religious minorities. The rule of law prevents the state from either promoting or hindering religious faith, and is strongly supported by the likes of the ACLU and AU, while the latter notion is merely commerical common sense. There is a wide gulf between disestablishmentarian and separationist legal principles laid down and elaborated upon for the sake of preventing a sectarian power struggle within the government on the one hand, and the commonsense principle of business which avoids insulting the customer. For the sake of waging an effective war on (behalf of) Christmas, it is incumbent upon the defenders of all that is good and/or holy to make it clear exactly which of these battlefronts they intend to target in any given rhetorical volley. On the commerical front, we have the following excerpt from Bill O'Reilly's show: The basic idea here is to get Christian shoppers in enough of a tizzy that they will faithfully boycott any stores which promote a more inclusive approach to the holiday season. This is a fundamentally sound idea, if one accepts the notion that Christians ought to influence the culture by promoting an intolerance of religious tolerance, that is, religious intolerance. It is difficult to see how this squares with the Golden Rule, considering that none of the evangelicals I've met would be at all comfortable shopping at a megamart with a massive Ramadan banner hanging out front, however wonderful the selection and pricing might be. (
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