ACLU: Modern Day Scrooge

Joshua Dwyer

This holiday season will be full of gifts, mistletoe, lights and decorations. But above all, December will be inundated by Ebenezer Scrooge.

And we’re not talking about the post-ghost, “I’ve-seen-the-error-of-my-ways” Ebenezer. Continuing the trend witnessed in the last few years, it will be the full-on funky, “Bah-Humbug!-I-don’t-care-Tiny-Tim-who?” Scrooge.

But it is not crass commercialism or crooked consumerism that is sucking the spirit right out of the Christmas. It is a concerted effort by those who would prefer to ignore the religious roots of the holiday. In true Ebenezer fashion, they have worked tirelessly, year after year, in attempts to force communities not to publicly recognize the origin of the celebration or the reason for the season.

Chief among those who would sanitize the culture of any public reference to God at this time of year are the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Both have systematically sought to force the narrow viewpoint shared by the groups’ members on the rest of the country, whether the nation likes it or not.

The ACLU and its cohorts have been successful in recent years by relying on litigation to coerce communities to abide by the organizations’ view of the Constitution.

These lawsuits are filed under the supposed violations of the First Amendment to the Constitution. Targeting towns that dare to mention “Christmas” or place non-ACLU approved Nativity scenes in the public square, the litigious organization and its assorted Mini-Me’s appear to impersonate the Grinch and his furry sidekick Max in the infamous holiday heist.

What seems to be lost from the entire debate is the fact that publicly acknowledging the birth of Jesus Christ would hardly be considered unconstitutional by the men that wrote the Constitution. According to the Library of Congress, several states used tax dollars to fund the operations of an official church at the time the Constitution was being ratified.

The ACLU also appears to ignore the fact that states had “established” churches for years after the Constitution and the First Amendment were the law of land. While might shock some to learn that tax-supported churches once existed in America, simply reading the text of the First Amendment provides a reasonable explanation.

According to the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” States were able to have official churches because the restrictions were placed on the federal government. When states eventually stopped recognizing and supporting particular churches, it was due to the growing number of denominations and changing population, not because the states were violating the Constitution.

With this in mind, it seems reasonable that a town should be able to display a Nativity scene or a sign that says, “Merry Christmas” without the fear of expensive legal action at the hands of the local chapter of the ACLU. And while the ACLU occasionally finds time to defend an individual’s right to exercise religion, if the group is in the news in November or December, it is usually seeking to restrict public religious displays.

The crusade against Christmas has influenced some municipalities to refer to decorated pine trees on public property as Holiday Trees. Even the tree at the Capitol building suffered from such a moniker for the last several years until the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, resumed the tradition of calling it a Christmas tree.

But it is not just public foliage that is under fire. Sterilized salutations like “Happy Winter” and “Season’s Greetings” have replaced “Merry Christmas” in businesses and offices throughout the country, often in attempts to placate the political correctness police.

If you don’t want to celebrate Christmas, that is fine. But please remember that the United States is big enough for everyone, including Christians. And if you do observe it as a holiday, don’t get Scrooged. Have a Merry Christmas!