Cazenovia Curmudgeon – Deck the Halls…and the Village Greens

By Donald Krueger

Don’t blame me. All I wanted to do was settle in my recliner, Saranac Pale Ale in hand, credit card intact, drawbridge raised, and quietly indulge in feelings of nostalgia for what we didn’t know then were the good old days.

Christmas trees were called that, came from woodlands, not plastics factories. We could say “Merry Christmas” without fear of reprisal. Could appreciate nativity scenes displayed on village greens, even if we were not of a religious persuasion.

But no. I learn from “Time Magazine,” Dec. 12, “The war on Christmas is back… An atheist group has plastered Santa-themed anti-religious ads on Los Angeles buses.”

Good grief, Santa is an atheist (Cazenovia second-grade teachers maybe should rethink having your pupils write letters to him)? Are these the “New Atheists” we’ve been reading about, giving us old-fashioned ones a bad name? Won’t let me say, “Merry Christmas”?

Bad enough “fair and balanced” Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly called us “the looney left…secular progressives, ACLU America-haters,” that we’re for “the legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion-at-will, gay marriage.”

Fox’s John Gibson said that first war – didn’t it end in a stalemate? – was a conspiracy of “the American Civil Liberties Union, lawyers, professional atheists and Christian-haters.”

Professional atheists?

Hold up, John. I don’t hate America; I don’t hate Christians. Some of my best friends, daughter included, are Americans and Christians. Anyway, an “attitude” about Christmas has its own tradition. Those good Christian pilgrims and Puritans, who sought religious freedom here did not observe Christmas. Pilgrim Gov. Willam Bradford called celebration of Jesus’s birth “pagan mockery.” Present-day Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t observe it; say it’s not in the Bible.

They’re right, of course. It wasn’t until the fourth century that the fathers of the new religion saw it as a way to attract converts and moved Jesus’s birthday from sometime in the spring – no one knows the exact date – to coincide with the birth date of the competing religion’s god Mithras: Natalis Solis Invicti, birthday of the Sun God, Dec. 25. For pagan Romans, it was Saturnalia, in honor of Saturn, their god of agriculture, planting season soon to be.

Mithras, Saturn, Jesus. Does it really make a difference? Isn’t it the symbolism, the associations, the tradition – and faith – that count for believers and non-believers alike? We secular humanists – or whatever you want to call us – have enough to occupy us plugging the holes in the wall of separation of church and state, public schools especially, to need to mess with Christmas. Evergreens in schoolrooms, Christmas trees in hallways, presents for teacher, her saying “Merry Christmas” to her students, whatever their beliefs, is not “teaching religion.”

Nor is having a nativity – lowercase n – next to the “holiday” – a/k/a – Christmas tree on the village green. My dictionary’s first definition for nativity is “birth, origin…birth with reference to attendant circumstances.” Not until the next definition does it say “Nativity (capital N), birth of Christ.”

I don’t see how the ACLU or New Atheists can be offended by a generic – “not protected by trademark” – nativity (lowercase n); leave off the halos, lose the yonder star, retire the shepherds and angels with wings, the three kings in all their finery. Just a simple family – family values! – with newborn child, attended by family, friends and domestic animals. The rustic manger was, of course, of the church fathers’ imaginations, as was the birth in Bethlehem. Contemporary dress? What would Jesus wear today?

The more or less 84 percent of Madison County residents who identify themselves as Christians can see this nativity as, well, a Nativity. We of the 16 percent can see it as a representation of birth, rebirth, awakening, family, tradition and other good things. Even the grumpiest among us. I’m sure local businesspeople will come to see it as attracting visitors…who will shop in our stores and eat in our restaurants…

Too late for this year but for the next and years to come might there be interest in this idea? Anyone to sponsor it? Ministers’ groups (without too much publicity; wouldn’t want the ACLU or New Atheists to become exercised)? Rotary clubs are noted for their good works in our communities. And if the ACLU, et al, take exception, I’ll be happy to testify as an expert witness from the far side, complete with the Humanist Manifesto, the U.S. Constitution, and assorted historical and theological reference material (and my baptismal certificate…if it’s not consumed by the fires of…).

Mr. Burgess, might this be a project for change by your youth group?

Donald W. Krueger of Cazenovia is a retired professor and active contrarian. Readers can email him at madnews@m3pmedia.com.

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Cazenovia Curmudgeon – Deck the Halls…and the Village Greens

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