Recent opinion piece on holiday greeting misses the mark

December 16, 2005

Spectrum/Frank Ameduri

Larry Wood's most recent &#8220Valley Voices” column (”There's nothing happy about ‘Happy Holidays,'” Frontiersman, Dec. 11) suggests Wood is in the full throes of an unusual form of Christmas spirit. He rains a storm of brimstone upon the heads of what he calls &#8220the cowards who say ‘Happy Holidays'” instead of &#8220Merry Christmas.” Wood presumes such a weak-kneed greeting is an intentional effort to deny the meaning of the occasion. Humbug.

Wood asks, &#8220Why have we allowed our major retailers and our government officials to think they have to go to extremes to avoid saying or allowing expressions of Christmas? Isn't that a restriction on free speech?” There's so much wrong with that logic, I hardly know where to begin.

Does Wood suggest we not &#8220allow” business owners or individuals to make choices he finds abhorrent? What should we &#8220allow” people to do? Forcing business owners, politicians or anyone else to say &#8220Merry Christmas” is not a definition of free speech.

Wal-Mart has opted to use &#8220Happy Holidays” not to offend Christians, but out of respect for its other customers. Wal-Mart is free to make such a decision without Mr. Wood's or the government's approval.

Wal-Mart employees, Mr. Wood and Gumby may all say &#8220Merry Christmas” to their hearts' content on their own time. That's free speech. Privately owned businesses may establish company policies without government interference - that's freedom, too.

More importantly, Wood makes a couple of very troubling assertions. One is that the U.S. is a &#8220Christian nation, not Muslim, not Hindu, not Buddhist, etc.” In fact, the U.S. very pointedly does not practice a national religion, and the Constitution protects every individual ‘s right to celebrate a religion of choice - or no religion at all.

Wood's other disturbing statement is that Constitutional Republicanism means majority rule. That is simply not so. Because Christians are in the majority does not mean we are a Christian nation.

In fact, the guarantees in the Bill of Rights are written to protect minorities against the tyranny of majority rule. Liberty functions because individuals share equal rights, not because the majority gets to run roughshod over those with less power.

Wood writes, &#8220 Š 80 percent of U.S. citizens claim to be Christian. I think that qualifies as a ‘sit down and shut up' for the disaffected.” Sounds more like Joseph Goebbels than Jesus Christ to me.

And that, of course, is the most troubling point of all. If you are a Christian and you find yourself nodding in agreement with Larry Wood, try to imagine Jesus Christ writing that column.

You remember Jesus Christ? He was the &#8220turn the other cheek” guy. He was the fellow who suggested a kindly Samaritan had a better shot at Heaven than a self-absorbed Jew.

And, surprise, Jesus was a devout Jew, himself. If he was here, he'd be disappointed if you wished him anything but a Happy Hanukkah. He would likely be deeply saddened that one of his followers would show so much disrespect and indifference to Jewish sensibilities.

Of course, Jews, Christians and Muslims all pray to the same God, but do not all celebrate Christmas. I wonder, as Jews, Muslims and Christians murder one another during this holiday season, will Jesus Christ look down from Heaven and say, &#8220Well, at least Larry Wood is wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. At least he's telling the disaffected to sit down and shut up. If I would have ditched the minorities, the meek and the powerless long ago, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess. Larry's right. I should have never been so tolerant Š so forgiving.”

Happy Holidays, Mr. Wood. May God keep you and yours safe, and may you be freed from the anger and intolerance in your heart. May you learn to give to others the same respect you hope to receive in return - even if they are in the minority.

Frank Ameduri is a resident of Palmer and former managing editor of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.