Fighting over the periphery

(Guestpost from the amazing Drew)

Yesterday I listened to a talk radio host spend most of his program discussing the war on Christmas. That is, he was upset that many ultra-PC companies have prohibited their employees from saying ”Merry Christmas.” Instead, these modern Scrooges instruct their cashiers to use the blander and less meaningful “Happy Holidays.” In recent years, Bill O’Reilly has made this issue into one of his crusades, and other activists have obviously caught on.

The host was correct (as was O’Reilly), but I still found the whole discussion rather silly. What an overemphasis on a minor issue! The Bible doesn’t even command Christians to celebrate Christmas. See, e.g., Colossians 2:16.

Of course, the host was right that people have become too politically correct, to the detriment of Christian speech. Liberals proudly assert their godless beliefs — which tell them to silence us — while many Christians cower in the corner. But the political correctness itself is the problem, not some annoying hostility to Christmas. The war on Christmas is merely one tentacle of the destructive octopus.

I realized that, culturally, Christians have done a splendid job of fighting furiously over the least important issues while ignoring more important ones. Take gay marriage as another example. God obviously considers homosexuality an abomination. But overall, we already grant tremendous tolerance to homosexuals — whether they marry or not. Contrary to Mosaic law, for example, we do not stone them to death. See Leviticus 20:13. Almost none of even the most ardent conservatives has sincerely demanded any sort of criminal penalties for homosexuality. Most people even accept the concept of civil unions, even though these unions equal marriage in almost every way.

People claim that allowing homosexuals to marry would weaken the institution of marriage. That claim is probably true. On the other hand, since when does society really care about the weakened institution of marriage? Over half of marriages end in divorce, a statistic that carries true in most states and even among the demographics of professed Christians.

No-fault divorce laws encourage couples to break up, but conservatives ignore them. Tennessee law condones adultery by making marital conduct only one factor (out of a dozen) in the determination of alimony, while ignoring such conduct entirely in the division of marital assets. As far as I know, most states have similar laws, which provide the marriage partner who earns less money a financial incentive to divorce. Despite these diabolical incentives, I have not heard any prominent conservatives come out against these laws.

We have let ourselves get worked up over symbols instead of substance. We confuse the annoying effect — Scrooge-ish companies – for the sinister causes. These causes include  1) Overall PC-censorship and 2) Christian timidity. Christians grow furious about clerks who don’t wish them “Merry Christmas,” but they cower in the corner the rest of the year instead of violating the rules of political correctness.

Conservatives rise to defend against the flagrant and symbolic demands for gay marriage, but they ignore the more serious threats to family. Citizens call their senators to protest a $14 billion loan to the auto industry but they try hard to forget the $586 billion spent yearly on the Social Security ponzi scheme. Candidates like John McCain focus on ending pork spending while simuletaneously throwing corporate welfare to failing businesses. We should have fought over the latter, without ignoring the former!

We have to become more logical, and more aggressive. So far we have taken the defensive strategy of  only reacting to the most egregious attacks on our culture. No more!