The Christmas Charade

I'm not sure it's worth keeping Christmas anymore. Oh, it is fine for those apparently dwindling numbers of us who still believe in the "original cast" of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men and the animals. They, as any post-Thanksgiving (not to mention postmodern) shopper knows, have been replaced by the road show of reindeer, winter scenes, elves and the God substitute, Santa Claus, who serves as a front for merchants seeking to play on the guilt some parents bear for ignoring their kids the rest of the year.

You can still see the original cast portrayed at Radio City Music Hall and in parts of Middle America and the South. Some stores continue to sell nativity scenes, which are mostly made in China, a nation that officially does not keep Christmas either. Those nativities are often kept out of sight - like "dirty" magazines used to be - so that hurried and harried shoppers who don't keep the real Christmas might not be offended in their pursuit of "holiday" gifts.

The ACLU and other groups are performing their annual ritual of keeping the public square (including the public school) clean of any mention of Jesus Christ, unless that mention is intended as a curse word. In such a case, the ACLU will leap to the defense.

Why participate any longer in this charade where the focal point of worship has shifted from a babe in a manger to a babe in the Victoria's Secret window? From gold, frankincense and myrrh to Bailey Banks & Biddle? No room in the inn has been replaced by no room in the mall parking lot. If God would get a lawyer out of hell, He might be justified in suing for copyright infringement. His great story has been hijacked and transformed into its opposite.

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