They must see a war the rest of us don’t

December 7, 2005

I didn’t intend to do two “war on Christmas” posts in the same day, but I saw a poll that needs more attention.

The story has generally been a tongue-in-cheek commentary for weeks. There isn’t a real conflict because only one side is doing all the complaining. When the O’Reilly/Falwell/AFA crowd starts a letter campaign against a department store that wishes its customers “happy holidays,” there is no other side — secularists and religious minorities are not organizing to keep the word “Christmas” out of newspaper ad supplements. I more or less assumed some far-right activists were worked up, but the rest of the country recognized how silly this “debate” really is.

Unfortunately, that may not be the case. National Journal reported that a new Fox News poll suggests that many Americans genuinely believe that a campaign against Christianity is real.

Nearly six in 10 respondents said they felt like Christianity is under attack, and a 49-percent plurality said religion in general is currently embattled. Forty-two percent said there was a “war” on Christmas in the United States, although a 48-percent plurality disagreed.

Even more — 58 percent — said the Christian symbols of the holiday, such as nativity scenes, are being attacked more now than they were one year ago.

Granted, I haven’t seen the wording of the questions. For that matter, the poll did come from Fox News. But has all the conservative whining really been this effective? Could 42% of the country really believe that there’s a “war on Christmas”? What do they see that the rest of us don’t?

Over the weekend, writer Neil Gabler was on Fox News explaining that FNC personalities like Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and John Gibson are “demagogues” who seek to “rally the masses” with this “war on Christmas” silliness.

“They’ll do it every Christmas. They did it last Christmas; they’ll do it next Christmas…. The media, particularly Fox media, has been pumping the hell out of this thing.”

And apparently, it’s working. The overwhelming majority of Americans will be celebrating Christmas, many with Nativity scenes on their lawn and a tree in their house. It’s even a federal holiday. Where’s the “war”?

Last year, armed police broke up a Christmas Mass at an underground Catholic church in eastern China, arresting the priest, demolishing a makeshift pulpit and scattering two thousand worshippers. Around the same time, some seasonal temp at the mall wished Bill O’Reilly a generic “Happy Holidays” and he felt like a victim.

Too many people have completely lost their sense of perspective.

” What do they see that the rest of us don’t?”

(Select all that apply)
A) The O’Reilly Factor
B) Focus on the Family Newsletters
C) The 700 Club
D) The Virgin Mary in their cornflakes

  • Just a thought– do we know what they mean by war on Christmas? The older version of the war was that Christmas was too commercialized. Is is possible people are referring to that as well? (Wishful thinking, I know.)

  • I think it was on the Kansas Morons website that I read a very telling appraisal about this. It was that extremist religionists….I won’t even dignify them with the title of ‘Christians’….whip up their followers into what’s called a ‘martyrdom psychosis’ where they are supposedly beset on all sides by invisible attackers who are trying to do them harm. Makes a lot of sense considering these exact issues.

    Nobody is attacking them and yet they feel attacked. Why? So their leaders can maintain and expand their own wealth and power. Simple enough. There’s a special place in Hell for those people but that doesn’t make it any less comfortable for the rest of us in the here and now.

  • This isn’t suprising. Wasn’t it a CBS poll
    recently that found that 51% of Americans
    believe God created humans directly, and
    a Pew poll that revealed 42% of Americans
    believe in Biblical creationism? It’s the same
    people. Hopelessly out of it, hopelessly
    paranoid.

  • This is actually a neat trick by the religious right stemming from a basic point about propaganda, if you think about it.

    Wasn’t it Goering who said that for leaders to get people to do what they want, all they have to do is convince them that they are being attacked?

    So here we are. The self-appointed Xtian leaders have to keep the pot boiling by hook or by crook, so that their sheep will consent to being fleeced (in terms of tithe money and donations) as well as to forestall grumbling with respect to less savory aspects of the kinds of policies and politicians that Xtian religious oligarchs support. All we’re seeing here are basic propaganda techniques applied in a religious context.

    So it is sick and sad, but it’s really effective and profitable. Or church leaders wouldn’t consent to it so meekly.

  • Yes, the long war on Christianity. I pray that one day we may live in an America where Christians can worship freely! In broad daylight! Openly wearing the symbols of their religion…. perhaps around their necks? And maybe — dare I dream it? — maybe one day there can be an openly Christian President. Or, perhaps, 43 of them. Consecutively.
    — Jon Stewart

  • The so-called “War on Christmas” fanatics have simply declared war on Jews and blacks who successfully manipulated sympathy for diversifying the holiday season with their Hannukah and Kwanza celebrations. Not to mention those darned occultists and their New Year eve Druidisms.

    Fundi “thought” process: Since we’re a Christian nation — under God and all that — why cave in to the minorities with their creepy Satanic beliefs?

  • I’ve been saying for a while now that if there is a war on Christmas, Christmas is winning in a romp. It’s impossible to escape from it. I’m one of those who actually doesn’t enjoy this time of year, for personal reasons, and I wish it wasn’t so in my face for 6 weeks every year. It’s just cynical persecution mongering on the part of religious “leaders” and wingnut pundits. It’s scary that it works so well dispite all the evidence to the contrary.

  • It is certainly disturbing that while in places like China there are Christians who are TRULY being persecuted, but in America they maintain this illusion that they are being persecuted here. Look – removing the Ten Commandments from courthouses is not persecution, that’s stopping you from persecuting minority religions. Whipping you for your faith and bulldozing your churches is persecution. Or, alternatively, instituting a state religion based on what the majority believe, one with state benefits for the majority but not any other minority, that’s persecution.

    Back on topic, is it any wonder anymore that Fox News viewers are so gullible and so susceptable to FoxNews misinformation? Remember the polls conducted last year that showed that those who watched FoxNews were the most likely to believe that Iraq really did have WMDs and was responsible for 9/11? It’s hardly suprising, but it is very discouraging that so many Americans can be so wilfully stupid.

  • Oh yes, and it’s also incredibly, fundamentally disgusting that FoxNews is using Christmas to continue to divide us and create enemies among us such as how Mr Flibble describes. This isn’t Christian, and this isn’t what Christmas is about at all.

  • I really sympathize with you, Smiley. Tens of
    millions of Americans at any given time have
    personal tragedies to deal with, and having
    feel good xmas crap stuffed down their
    throats 24/7 across the bands has got to get
    them especially down during the holiday season.
    I don’t know what to do about it, but it sure puts
    the lie to this war on xmas lunacy.

  • I’m sure the questions were worded like Colbert’s question:

    President Bush: great President, or greatest President?

    I’ll just put you down for great.

    —

    What this is really about is capitalism (or capitalizing). Bill “Falafel” O’Wrongly and his cabal are shouting about this nonexistent war to get people to go spend, spend, spend. Who cares is it’s all debt spending now; certainly not Jesus!

  • Or it could just be a stunt by FOX and Bill O’ to keep the ratings up and we should be ignoring it. The Pres.nut did, sending out his usual Holiday greetingson his cards. FOX also uses the Holiday word on it’s website.

  • This country is so damned dumb I don’t think mos of it knows where California is, let alone whether Christianity’s under attack. If Fox says it’s so, then it must be so. I wonder what’s better from their point of view: to have it as the attacked but unofficial established Church of the USA, or to have it die on the vine without a whimper and without notice, as it’s doing throughout the civilized, certainly the European, world.

    To chant a regular refrain of mine: most of what we measure with polls wouldn’t exist if we didn’t measure it.

  • Reading a previous post, “the backlash begins,” it seems quite possible that people DO believe Christmas is under attack — from conservatives.

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