Keller @ Large: Enough With The Christmas Religious Bickering
BOSTON (CBS) - Here we go again with that annual sign of the season, the bickering over whether or not the religious aspect of Christmas is being properly acknowledged.
When did all this start, and who started it? Can anyone remember?
I recall a night at least 20 years ago attending the annual "Holiday Concert" at my sons' public elementary school – which once was known as the "Christmas Concert" – and watching with mounting horror as the kids performed Hanukkah songs, Kwanzaa songs, even "Jingle Bells" – but no Christmas carols.
Not one.
Many of my Christian neighbors were furious about it, and I didn't blame them. And things have gotten so bad since, a Christian marketing firm is promoting a "Christmas Buycott," complete with a website soliciting ratings of businesses according to how sensitive they are to Christian beliefs and traditions and encouraging consumers to shop there.
One of the first targets of the buycott – Starbucks, said to be disrespecting Christmas by rolling out blank red cups for the season, by contrast with Dunkin Donuts, which has the word "joy" on their seasonal cups. This is a bit confusing, because Starbucks also offers a product called "Christmas Coffee," while the DD cups never mention the word Christmas.
Both companies say they respect all faiths and traditions, as they should. And maybe that's the way out of this silly holiday grievance spiral we're stuck in – just showing respect for all, minus the knee-jerk political correctness.
Is that really so hard?
Or as Rodney King, the driver whose beating at the hands of police led to the 1992 L.A. riots, memorably put it: "Can't we all just get along?"
Listen to Jon's commentary:
