It is supposed to be jolly. Yet even before the cheery old man comes in through the chimney, protectors of our values have barged in through the front door.
You guessed it: Now that Saddam Hussein is gone, Osama can't be found and Clinton is not redefining what "is" means, the religious right found a new enemy.
The latest episode in the perpetual culture war features self-anointed defenders of Christmas pitted against liberals who are secular, amoral and possibly in possession of WMDs.
The issue is the extent to which the so-called campaign against Christmas seems to give conservatives a collective aneurism. Bill O'Reilly is keeping tabs on stores that say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" and accusing them of having an anti-Christian bias.
O'Reilly has also complained about how the school board in Hillsborough County, Fla., has removed most mentions of religious holidays from the school calendar. The mention of "winter break," rather than "Christmas holidays," makes O'Reilly want to erupt into flames.
The insanity has spread far and wide among the religious right. FOX News commentator John Gibson released a book called, "The War on Christmas."
While O'Reilly and Gibson are entitled to their opinion, portraying this issue as a battle between God-fearing traditionalists and secular elites is counterproductive.
In terms of the real challenges we face, we can do without one that consumes our energy but means nothing of consequence. (After all, we can revisit the Scopes trial only so many times.)
None of this suggests that traditionalists shouldn't have a say in society. Secularists have to understand that in our imperfect world, separation of church and state does not imply separation of religion and politics.
Even if it did, it is not good policy to act as if people serious about religion are unsophisticated and dogmatic. It is possible to draw from science and theology in the same life. Isaac Newton believed that he was "doing God's work," according to a biography. Albert Einstein considered his attempts to understand the workings of the universe as an attempt to understand the mind of God.
However, it is undeniable that the religious right uses the Christmas issue to rally its base.
Voters defeated the school board in Dover, Penn., after the board attempted to force "Intelligent Design" upon students. Hit-man wannabe Rev. Pat Robertson declared that the people of Dover would not be get any help from God should they need it since they "rejected" God. Robertson, who blamed gays for the Sept. 11 attacks, seems to view science and God as mutually exclusive.
The theme of a "culture war" is a golden oldie of the conservative right. Giving them something to be outraged about retains those that do not benefit from Republican free-market policies. The obvious targets of the outrage are those that do not participate in religion as intensely.
Unfortunately, culture warriors don't seem to understand that fair-minded people can be opposed to a holiday with religious flavor but still be dedicated to their own faith. By making Christmas the battleground for this confrontation, conservatives give the impression that they would detest anyone who does not think or act exactly the way they do.
The biggest loser in this battle is Christmas itself. We have a debate that does not consider the faith in people's hearts, but instead picks a fight over people's choice about what and how to celebrate.
Christmas is worthy of celebration, reflection and, at the very least, some happiness even if you are not Christian.
Merry Christmas, and in the words of Kinky Friedman, "May the God of your choice bless you!"
Nishant Bhajaria is a computer science graduate student. Reach him at nishant.bhajaria@asu.edu.
