VITAL SIGNSrnCHRISTIANITYrnHappy Holidays?rnBah! Humbug!rnby Tom PiatakrnI n 1938, Whittakcr Chambers brokernwith the Communist Partw hi Witness,rnChambers describes his Christmasrnthat year as one of great joy, in which hernfirst told his children the Christmas story,rnshared with them the Christmas ornamentsrnthat had decorated his childhoodrnChristmas trees, and enjoyed the Christmasrncarols his daughter was then learning.rnAt first glance, it is surprising thatrnChristmas 1938 should hayc meant an-rnthing to the Chambers famih’. ^After all.rnChambers was not yet a Christian, andrnhis wife had neyer been a Christian. Yetrnsuch vyas the splendor of Christmas asrnonce celebrated in America that Chambersrnhad felt its pull even when he wasrnstill a communist. Chambers rememberedrnthat “Christmas had always beenrnour one great holiday when 1 was a boy,”rnand, as a Part}’ member, he introducedrnhis family to as much of the Cliristmasrncelebration as the Parts’ permitted.rnA contemporary of Chambers, Fr.rnGereon Goldmann, experienced a veryrndifferent Christmas half a world away. Asrna conscript in the SS, Goldmann wasrnforced to celebrate not Christmas, but arnbizarre winter holiday concocted by thernNazis:rnOn Christmas Eye, there vyas a celebration,rnnot a Christian one, but arnpagan German julfest. We were allrntogether and had to sing some trashrnabout the night of the clear starsrnand other sad snbsdtntes for dierntrue Christmas message.rnAs shocking as it may soimd, the contemporaryrnpublic obscryanee of Christmasrnin America bears a much closer resemblancernto die Nazis’ ]ulfest dian tornthe Christmas diat enticed Chambers.rnAnd this extraordinarv’ transformation hasrnoccurred in a generation.rnI vyas born in 1964. Of course, myrnmemories of my taniily Christmases arernwarm ones. But I also fondly rememberrnthe public celebrahons of Chri.stmas. hirnmy public elementary school, we madernChristmas ornaments and Christmasrncards, sang Christmas carols, and aternChristmas cookies, hi junior high, ourrnChristmas concert introduced me tornmore vyonderfu! Christmas music, includingrna porhon of Bach’s Chnstmas Oratoriornand Pietro Ion’s “Gesu Bambino.”rn”Merry Christmas” was a universal greeting,rnChristmas carolers yere regular visitorsrnin our neighborhood, and the profusionrnof decorahons adorning all mannerrnof stores left no doubt as to what holidayrneveryone was celebrating. Local radiornstations would air Christmas musicrnthroughout December, and the mostrnpopvilar station in town \oidd air nothingrnbut Christmas music from 6:00 P.M.rnon Christmas F,e until the end ofrnChristmas Day. Telev ision was filledrnwith Christmas specials, and even thernmost secular shows almost invariably featuredrnworkmanlike and even reverentrnperformances of some hallowed carols.rnNo one I knew was bodiered by the effusiverncelebration of a national holidayrnobserved by the overwhelming majoritv’rnof Americans. The onl concerns ofrnwhich I was aware were admonitionsrnagainst the commercialization of Chri.stmasrnand to “keep Christ in Christmas.”rnSuch concerns now seem quaint. AsrnDon Fedcr observed last December,rn”Today, the challenge is to keep Christmasrnin Christmas.” We now have “holidayrncards,” “holiday parties,” “holidayrnsongs,” and even “holiday trees.” hi orderrnto avoid giving offense to anyone an-rnvvliere, millions of Americas are nowrnseemingly content to keep quiet aboutrnthe holiday they do celebrate and to act asrnif all sorts of other minor festivals —rnKwanza, Hannkkah, Bodhi L^a, Diwali,rnRamadan, die winter solshee —are equallyrnimportant. It lias reached the pointrnwhere wishing someone a “Merrv’ Christmas”rnis a polihcal act, not a friendly commonplace.rnThink about it: When wasrnthe last time a store employee, seeing yournbuying presents on Christmas Fve,rnwished you a “Merry C>hristnias” ratherrndian “Happy Holidays”? Wlien was thernlast time you wished a stranger “MerryrnChristmas” rather than “Happy Holidays”?rnMy first introduction to the anti-rnChristmas mania that has engulfedrnAmerica occurred in college, hi 1984, arnsuitemate and I attempted to introducernChristmas cheer to our dormitory byrnputting up a Christmas tree and a nativit’rnscene. Unfortunately, our suite alsornhoused prospective students visiting therncampus, and we w ere told die creche hadrnto go, lest a prospective non-Christianrnstudent take offense. Apparently, highschoolrnseniors were so dchcate that theyrncoidd not widistand the knowledge thatrnother people might not believe everythingrnthey did.rnLaw school was no better. In 1988, thernnew dean of the Michigan Law School,rnLee Bollinger, issued an edict to the lawschoolrnstudent singing group, the Headnotes,rndeclaring that they could not singrnany Chri.stmas music at the school’s endof-rnscmester gadicring. This prohibihonrncovered not just religious carols, but anyrnsong that even mentioned the wordrn”Christmas.” (Ironically, Bollinger’s academicrnspecialh’ is the First Amendment.)rnInstead, the law school offered up an absurd,rnleftist commentary on “Antigone”rnset to awful contemporary music. (As arnfriend remarked, it was beginning to lookrna lot like Thebes.)rnOf course, the desire to suppress Christmasrnis scarcely confined to higher education.rnMy sisters’ children until very recentlyrnattended a public elementaryrnschool in an affluent Detroit suburb. Inrnthat suburban system, which has a studentrnboch’ that is overwhelmingly whiternand (at least nominally) Christian, teachersrnare forbidden to mention Chri.stmas.rnInstead, diey teach about Hannkkah andrnKwanza. So diorough was the indoctrinationrnthat my nephew asked hvo yearsrnago why wc did not celebrate Hannkkahrnor Kwanza. He knew about Christmas,rnof course, but was understandably concernedrndiat he was missing out on something,rnsince the only holidays he heardrnabout outside die home were absent fromrnour family celebrahons.rnSome elemcntar’-scliool teachers havernchosen a less direct assault on Christmas,rndiminishing its importance by presentingrnit as merely one of an ever-growing list ofrnseemingly equal and interchangeablernholidays rather tlian obliterating all menhonrnof it. Last ear, a friend’s son parhci-rn4H/CHRONICLESrnrnrn