World
SDSD
The
.
Christmas
WARS
DIGEST
American Jews fear the Grinch role.
Matthew E. Berger
Jewish Telegraphic Agency -
Washington
he sound of angry Christians rail-
ing against the marginalization of
• Christmas has become the new
tune of this holiday season. Across the
country, from department stores. to town
halls, battle lines have been drawn over how
to mark the winter holidays.
Led by evangelical groups who say the
holiday's religious significance is being
ignored, some Christians are fighting back.
They're threatening to sue schools districts
that have banned the singing of Christmas
carols and other places where "Happy
Holidays" has replaced "Merry Christmas"
as the preferred greeting of the season.
Evangelical leaders don't cast the Jewish
community as the Scrooge, yet efforts to
highlight Christian themes and celebrations
at Christmas historically have come at the
expense of religious diversity and tolerance.
Jewish leaders fear that stressing Christmas'
religious significance could highlight Jew's'
minority status in the United States.
"It is not a movement prompted by an
animus against Jews
or the Jewish com-
munity:' said
Abraham Foxman,
national director of
the Anti-
Defamation League,
who has taken the
lead in warning
about growing
evangelical influ-
ence in the United
Abraham Foxman
States. "But the unin-
tended consequence
is that Jews may be blamed for it:'
Much of what evangelicals criticize con-
sists of efforts to include religious minori-
ties in holiday celebrations, say Jewish corn-.
munity leaders, who fear that adding more
religious expression in schools and govern-
ment could make Jews feel like second-class
citizens.
Indeed, much of the evangelical commu-
36
December 22 • 2005
nity's argument has rested on a call for
more celebrations of both Christmas and
Chanukah; part of a call for a return to
"Judeo-Christian values."
"It just seems to me that what we ought
to be aiming for in America is recognizing
everyone's traditions, rather than melding
traditions into a homogenized whatever;
Gary Bauer, the president of American
Values, told JTA.
The onslaught of Christmas decorations
and programming for years has been a
source of quiet frustration for American
Jews, but decisions about how to handle it
have varied. Some Jewish groups have
worked to ensure that religious Christmas
displays don't enter the public square, while
others — predominantly the Chabad move-
ment — sought equal treatment for meno-
rahs and other Chanukah decorations.
The inclusion of Chanukah, and then the
African-American holiday of Kwanzaa, has
forced retailers and municipalities to seek
more generic and inclusive ways of
acknowledging all faiths. That has led to
claims that Christianity has been taken out
of Christmas celebrations.
The city of Boston renamed a tree in
Boston Common a "holiday tree:" Target, the
giant retailer, was criticized for airing com-
mercials in December that did not specifi-
cally mention Christmas.
Even Pope Benedict XVI has weighed in,
declaring Sunday that a "commercial pollu-
tion" of Christmas could alter the holiday's
true meaning. He suggested families erect
nativity scenes in their homes..
The pro-Christmas movement comes at a
time of growing evangelical political
strength, giving their message increased
weight and attention. Evangelicals have
fought this year against efforts to remove
proselytizing from the Air Force Academy
in Colorado Springs, Colo., and for the
teaching of "intelligent design" in public
-.schools. Nominees to the U.S. Supreme
Court have been weighed in part on their
church attendance and their public procla-
mations of faith.
"They've come to feel a certain strength
in their position in America and in the pub-
lic that they didn't feel under President
Clinton:' said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein,
founder and chairman of the International
Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
Those who see a decrease in Christmas
observance, including media figures like Bill
O'Reilly and John Gibson, both of the Fox
News Channel, claim Christmas is being
excluded from seasonal decorations in an
attempt to be sensitive to minorities.
"It's mostly guilt-ridden Christians','
Gibson told JTA. He is the author of The
War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to
Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse
Than You Thought.
Self-styled defenders of the faith refer
darkly to "militant secularists:'
"The Jews I know are not offended by the
words,`Meriy Christmas:" Bauer said."The
controversy doesn't seem to be coming from
believing Jews."
But Christian leaders often accuse
Hollywood, the media and the American
Civil Liberties Union of taking the religion
out of Christmas — and all three groups
are seen as run by Jews, Foxman said.
Rabbi Eckstein warned of a backlash if
Jews are perceived as being on the front
lines of the fight.
The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of
Americans United for Separation of Church
and State, has been cast as the lead oppo-
nent of Christmas celebrations. He said
evangelical leaders are trying to place
Christmas and Christianity above other reli-
gions.
. "There's a kind of Christian triumphal-
ism; a feeling that Christians have to win
every battle,' said Rev.tynn, who spoke to
JTA by telephone while shopping for
Christmas presents. "There is a fear that
other religions are going to be treated the
same as Christmas, and that means
Christmas won't have its special place five
weeks of the year."
Said Jonathan Sarna, an American Jewish
history professor at Brandeis University,
"What we're seeing in America today, with
the evangelical emphasis, will be looked
back on as the last gasp to hold onto an
America that is Christian." ❑
Sharon Goes Home ...
Jerusalem/JTA — Ariel Sharon was dis-
charged from the hospital. The Israeli prime
minister walked out of Hadassah-University
Hospital in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem neighbor-
hood on Tuesday after less than 48 hours of
treatment for a mild stroke."It seems you've
missed me. Now I must quickly get -back to
work and move 'forward," Sharon told
reporters, punning on the Hebrew meaning
of his new centrist party, Kadima. Doctors
said it would be several days before Sharon
was back to his full working capacity.
Still Strong In Polls
Jerusalem/JTA — Despite his health prob-
lems, Ariel Sharon's lead in polls ahead of
Israel's March election is stronger than ever.
According to a survey in Ma'ariv, the prime
minister's new Kadima Party will take 42 of
the Knesset's 120 seats in the March 28 bal-
lot, an unprecedented robust showing. The
Labor Party was predicted to take 22 seats,
while the Likud, which elected Benjamin
Netanyahu as its new leader, was predicted to
take 13 seats.
'Intelligent Design' Ruling
Washington/JTA — A U.S. federal judge ruled
that "intelligent design" cannot be taught in
science classes as an alternative theory to
evolution. The judge ruled against the Dover
Area School Board in Pennsylvania, saying it
violated the Constitution when it ordered.
"intelligent design" to be included in the dis-
trict's biology curriculum.
"the-citizens of the Dover area were poor-
ly served by the members of the Board who
voted for the I.D. Policy," wrote Judge John E.
Jones III. Jones said he does not believe intel-
ligent design is science.
Many Jewish groups supported the plain-
tiffs, who sued the school objecting to the
curriculum. They claimed it was a repackag-
ing of creationism, which is illegal to teach in
public schools.
Hadassah Eyes Violence Act
Washington/JTA — Hadassah called on
President Bush to sign the Violence Against
Women Act. Congress reauthorized the legis-
lation, which creates grant programs and
other initiatives to help victims of domestic
violence, and the measure awaits the presi- .
dent's signature.
"Since this groundbreaking legislation first
passed, violence against women has
dropped; domestic violence is down by 50
percent; murder by an abusive partner is
down 22 percent; and now more than half of
rape victims repoit the crime,' said June
Walker, Hadassah's president.