Yes, Virginia, there will always be Christmas

by Gordon Cooper

From Broader View Weekly, December 19, 2008

Come on people; join in, let’s all sing along. “It’s beginning to look a lot like the Winter solstice…” Hmm…it just doesn’t have the same ring, does it?

As we trudge through the stores and malls during another Christmas season, we can be sure that we will hear all those old familiar tunes and a few new ones as once again memories of Christmases past mix with the images of Christmas present. We can also be certain that we will hear or read another news story about some controversial act by a school, store or municipality that has decided to alter the nomenclature of this holiday to represent a more politically correct (PC) stance. The tendency to refer to this season as The Holiday Season and to re-name Christmas Trees and Christmas pageants as either Holiday Trees and Winter Pageants reflects the attempt to not offend those in our society who do not believe in God and/or the birth, death and resurrection of His Son.

This act inevitably will result in a splurge of newspaper ink, TV time, and/or some Internet traffic as representatives from both sides of the issue voice their opinions and outrage. Some have gone as far as to describe this controversy in militaristic terms, claiming that there is an all-out war on Christmas and they call upon their disciples to mount campaigns against stores or businesses that wish people Happy Holidays instead of wishing them a Merry Christmas.

I am sorry, but I have never felt the gain or loss of my personal happiness or merriment depended upon a half-hearted salutation from a harried cashier nor have I ever decided to have a particular emotion because I spotted a window banner commanding that I have a Merry something or a Happy something. In other words, I am not about to boycott a business or mount a letter-writing effort. I feel that my energy is better spent upon other more worthwhile activities.

Now, to those who fear the above-mentioned PC attempts to soften the message of Christmas will soon lead to the demise and eventual evaporation of Christmas altogether, let me paraphrase that ancient reply from the editor who calmed the fears of a pre-adolescent girl who had doubts about the existence of Santa Claus: “Yes, Virginia, there will always be Christmas.” And, to those of you who are on the side of the secularists who have had just about enough of all this emphasis on the birth of Jesus Christ and somehow feel threatened by the reminder that God exists, let me assure you that I am not proposing a theocratic society.

I’ll explain. There has always been a concerted effort to extinguish the Christmas message, and there has never been a moment of “those good old days” when everyone shared a common belief about the birth of Jesus Christ. There will never be a golden moment in the future when we all agree about the person or deity of Christ. The reality is that we live in a secular – meaning a non-religious – society and despite my own personal faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, and my belief in His Divine nature and my assurance of eternal life with Him in heaven, I do not want or need my faith, beliefs and assurances imposed upon others involuntarily. The whole beauty and efficacy of faith in Jesus is based upon the fact that it should be a personal choice of the heart, not a reaction to social pressure.

The facts of Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection have been documented and verified by both biblical and extra-biblical sources. Even if we do not know the exact dates of those events, we cannot dispute that He exists and that His life changed our planet forever. To assume that a person, a business or a whole society can somehow threaten the memory or celebration of Jesus Christ would be to admit that He is somehow less than what we, as Christians, claim He is. Likewise, to assume that by removing the mention of His name from the classrooms of our schools and the window displays of our businesses we will somehow shield some innocent, vulnerable child from some terribly offensive concept that might scar her/his tender psyche forever is also laughable.
In conclusion, I would wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, but I think you can decide for yourselves how merry and happy you want to be. So I will instead leave you with a simple message. I am happy that I live here in this nation. I am glad that we are still free to recognize Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or the Winter Solstice or any other holiday that makes us feel like smiling and extending kindness toward others.

Yes, Virginia, there will always be Christmas!