O’Reilly: Holidays For Christians Only

Yup. Bill O’Reilly’s done it again. He (and by extension his viewers, since we all know they are incapable of intelligent thought if they actually believe the crap that comes out of his mouth) thinks the holidays belong to Christians exclusively. Or that’s what he’s implied, and obviously believes, at least, when he becomes outraged that non-Christians put up a sign of their viewpoint next to an X-mas display in front of a government building. Oh, the horror!

O’Reilly, as usual, has made up a war that doesn’t exist, one on X-mas. In an awe-inspiring display of intellectual dishonesty, he claims that X-mas is no different from MLK day, because ‘these days both honor men who happen to be religious’.

Oh, Lordy.

Now while I’m sure you’ve already heard all about this from other blogs, I’ve spotted some extra, less obvious lunacy. I figured I may as well send him a letter. I may even get the nerve to try and call in tommorrow and read this off (as if he’d let me). Not that I actually expect and logical arguments to be put on air.

Oh, Bill.

Firstly, regardless of how un-Constitutional it is to have a federal holiday respecting only one religion yet ignore all the others, X-mas is a federal holiday. That means that every U.S. citizen has a right to participate. X-mas was secularized the moment it was made an official federal U.S. holiday, thanks to the Founder’s mandate for separation of Church and State. This is why we call these times ‘the Holidays’, because all of us celebrate them regardless of faith or lack of it. No religion has an exclusive claim to it, period. The idea that atheists and other non-Christians are not allowed to display holiday spirit in their own way when Christians are allowed to do so freely and on our tax dollars is lunacy.

Most people are aware that X-mas, Easter, Halloween, etc, were originally Pagan holidays. The Pagan elements of these holidays still shine through: Easter eggs for fertility rites, carved pumpkins to chase spirits away, and Yule logs for sun worship. These holidays existed long before Christianity came about. Even if Christmas were not a federal holiday and thus secularized, Christianity has only transformed these holidays into its own. Winter is a time of celebration around the world, in most cultures, for those with and without gods. The winter holidays belong to Pagans as much as they belong to atheists, Christians, Jews, Africans, Muslims, Hindus, etc. Bill O’Reilly, you and your religion have no right to exclude others, nor should you be so small-minded as to think that everyone in America is Christian and thus that we ‘don’t belong’.

The idea that having a small placard up as our only voice during the holidays is war on ‘your’ Christmas (that Christianity stole from the Pagans, of course), suggests that you think non-Christians are less American and less worthy of having the same rights as you simply because of our beliefs. That idea is the same one our Founders fought against. Think twice before calling anyone else un-American.

An atheist celebrating the holidays, American-style.