A couple weeks ago I mentioned the Committee to Save Merry Christmas. I did not have kind words but didn’t write much because I thought that if we ignored them they might go away. I mean seriously, people, get over yourselves. But no: conservative Christians have picked up the meme with a vengeance. In response, Saint Paul Pioneer Press columnist Laura Billings has been going to town. Her last two columns, “Partisan shoppers dreaming of a Red and Blue Christmas” and “‘Merry Christmas’ needs no help” are spot on. I am tempted to pull out quotations to entice you, but they’re worth reading in full. (They’ll probably end up behind a ridiculous subscription requirement, so keep BugMeNot close by.)

Steve Ross wrote something on The Gutless Pacifist, one of those thoughts that makes me get up and dance around because it speaks so clearly to what I’m thinking:

I have a few points of reference for these folks:

  • When store clerks say “happy holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas,” you are not being persecuted. When you are tossed into prison for saying “Merry Christmas,” you are.
  • When the government is barred from putting nativity scenes on government property, you are not being persecuted. When you are sentenced to hard labor for belonging to a house church not sanctioned by the government, you are.
  • When you are not allowed to say a Christian prayer over the loudspeaker at a public high school graduation, you are not being persecuted. When you are killed by an angry mob for leading someone in prayer to Jesus, you are.