There IS A War On Christmas

Bah, Humbug!

The Washington Times

A stern bah, humbug for the perpetrators of this week's rash of Christmas-display and nativity-scene trashings. The contrast of this pure hooliganism with the Yuletide spirit couldn't be worse.

In Marietta, Ga., a public-school coach allegedly drove students around town to thrash Christmas displays, a rampage which included rearranging reindeer in X-rated positions. In Melbourne, Fla., a disabled man's inflatable lawn figures were destroyed and his reindeer was tossed into a pond. In Rockland, Maine, a 34-foot Christmas tree fashioned from lobster traps was vandalized. The list goes on, in the dozens.

In Southlake, Texas, teens clubbed Christmas decorations with baseball bats. A Leesburg, Ga., man's display was attacked three times in two weeks. A Hampton Leades, N.C., man's 8-foot Frosty was knifed. An 81-year-old Richfield, Minn., retiree cried when his tires were slashed and his Santas ripped open in a 10,000-light Christmas display. Two miscreant Santa stabbers were nabbed in Islip, N.Y., when one mistakenly left a cell phone at the scene. A Quad City, Iowa, family's light display was egged. One Vallejo, Calif., family's Christmas tribute to a daughter killed in a plane crash was attacked three times. In Greensboro, N.C., a 71-year-old nativity scene was destroyed. And so on. These miscreants are worse than Ebenezer Scrooge.

Meanwhile, some conservatives have attempted to link this hooliganism to the broader secular assault on Christmas. This year, for instance, the Freedom from Religion Foundation in Wisconsin has made its assault on Christmas through legal means by threatening Green Bay, Wisc., with legal action over a nativity display at City Hall. The good people at the Alliance Defense Fund then volunteered to defend Green Bay — quite laudable — but couldn't resist linking humbug objectors to hooliganism. "Such attacks are simply part of a larger war that the secular Left is waging on all things Christian," said Gary McCaleb to CNS News.

But it would be enough to decry the hooligans' knavery on the one hand and combat the secular assault in courts and by the airwaves on the other. Each to its own and each measure accordingly.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071222/EDITORIAL/212012523