[If the letters pages to the Australian (especially Sydney) media are any guide this is just as much an Australian
issue. In Australia, however, the fire is directed almost exclusively at secularists. It is also much more politically
directed with the number one target being Sydney's independent Lord Mayor Clover Moore. According to Crikey.com.au Rupert Murdoch has never forgiven her for voting against the deal that virtually that gave him the old showgrounds for
his Fox studios. (Ms Moore is a NSW MLC as well as Lord Mayor.)
While I have never have a been a fan of Rabbi Michael Lerner he's got the knack of every so often coming up with a
message that combines the best of Jewish philosophy with the kind of critical political thought one would normally
associate with the likes of Naomi Klein.
In view of the subject matter this is being sent to a wide range of readers. I'll take the opportunity to wish you all
the compliments of the season and a happy peaceful new year. Sol Salbe]
News Release:
CHRISTMAS WARS: The Jews and Secularists Did NOT Steal Christmas, But It WAS STOLEN!
Flush from their electoral victories in November, some leaders of the Christian Right have decided to make an issue of
the secularization of Christmas. Objecting to the move by Macy's and some other retailers to wish their shoppers "Happy
Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" instead of the traditional Merry Christmas, they have begun to accuse secularists in
general, and, on some of the right-wing talk shows, Jews in particular, of undermining Christmas.
It's easy to dismiss these Right-wingers as sore winners. They are well on their way to packing the judiciary with
judges who may erode the division between church and state, make abortion more difficult or illegal, and support the
pro-torture position of Bush's choice for Attorney General. Yet the 25% of Jews who voted for Bush in this past election
may not have imagined that along with his vigorous support for Sharon and for the war in Iraq, Bush's electoral victory
could spur a public assault on the legitimacy of Jewish identity in the U.S.
The assault has been led by Bill O'Reilly, the most popular cable newscaster, who told millions of viewers that there
was a systematic assault on Christmas by secularists. When challenged by a Jewish caller who said he felt uncomfortable
being subject to frequent attempts to convert him by Christians at his college, O'Reilly responded: "All right. Well,
what I'm tellin' you, is I think you're takin' it too seriously. You have a predominantly Christian nation. You have a
federal holiday based on the philosopher Jesus. And you don't wanna hear about it? Come on -- if you are really
offended, you gotta go to Israel then. I mean because we live in a country founded on Judeo -- and that's your guys' --
Christian, that's my guys' philosophy. But overwhelmingly, America is Christian. And the holiday is a federal holiday
honoring the philosopher Jesus. So, you don't wanna hear about it? Impossible. And that is an affront to the majority.
You know, the majority can be insulted, too. And that's what this anti-Christmas thing is all about."
Meanwhile, Richard Viguerie, the master of Right-wing direct mail campaigns, interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh
Air on Dec. 13, repeated the charge that Christians were the victims of a systematic secularists assault against
Christmas. On MSNBC last week William Donahue of the Catholic League insisted, "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews
who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? They like to see the public
square without nativity scenes."
Liberals and civil libertarians would be making a huge mistake to see this as merely the rantings of a few overt anti-
Semites and anti-civil-liberties extremists. They articulate a legitimate concern that many Christians say privately:
their children have learned that Christmas is about buying-and the person with the most expensive gifts wins!
There is a beautiful spiritual message underlying Christmas that has universal appeal: the hope that gets reborn in
moments of despair, the light that gets re-lit in the darkest moments of the year, is beautifully symbolized by the
story of a child born of a teenage homeless mother who had to give birth in a manger because no one would give her
shelter, and escaping the cruelty of Roman imperial rule and its local surrogate Herod who already knew that such a
child would grow up to challenge the entire imperialist system. To celebrate that vulnerable child as a symbol of hope
that eventually the weak would triumph over the rule of the arrogant and powerful is a spiritual celebration with strong
analogies to our Jewish Chanukah celebration which also celebrates the victory of the weak over the powerful. And many
other spiritual traditions around the world have similar celebrations at this time of year.
The loss of this message, its subversion into a frenetic orgy of consumption, rightly disturbs Christians and other
people of faith.
Yet this transformation is not a result of Jewish parents wanting to protect their children from being forced to sing
Christmas carols in public school, or secularists sending Seasons Greeting cards. It derives, instead, from the power of
the capitalist marketplace, operating through television, movies and marketers, to drum into everyone's mind the notion
that the only way to be a decent human being at this time of year is to buy and buy more. Thus the altruistic instinct
to give, which could take the form of giving of our time, our skills, and our loving energies to people we care about,
gets transformed and subverted into a competitive frenzy of consumption.
Not surprisingly, the Christian Right is unwilling to challenge the capitalist marketplace-because their uncritical
support for corporate power is precisely what they had to offer the Right to become part of the conservative coalition.
Their loyalty to conservative capitalist economics trumps for them their commitment to serving God. But for those of us
who want to prevent a new surge of anti-Semitism and assaults on the first amendment, our most effective path is to
acknowledge what is legitimate in the Christians' concern- and lead it into a powerful spiritual critique of the ethos
of selfishness and materialism fostered by our economic arrangements. It's time for our liberal and progressive
Christian leaders and neighbors to stand up against on behalf of Jews and on behalf of their own highest spiritual
vision--and challenge the real Christmas thieves!
Rabbi Michael Lerner is editor of Tikkun Magazine www.Tikkun.org, and author of Spirit Matters: Global Healing and the Wisdom of the Soul. www.tikkun.org
*************
[The independent Middle East News Service concentrates on providing alternative information chiefly from Israeli
sources. It is generously sponsored by the Australian Jewish Democratic Society. The views expressed here are not
necessarily those of the AJDS. These are expressed in its own statements]