Liberty Counsel, a right-wing legal and publicity office promoting the use of Christian language by government officials, released a breathless press release just before Christmas:
Weatherford, OK – Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU), has issued a disturbing policy which requires all employees to refrain from using the word “Christmas” in oral or written form. The university provost reported that this directive was given by the university upon legal advice of the Oklahoma Attorney General, W.A. Drew Edmondson (although he denies having given such advice). Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to SWOSU following a complaint from a university affiliate.
David Misak, the Director of Human Resources, recently visited various university departments and employee groups and informed everyone that any decorations featuring the words “Christ” or “Christmas” in any work or public areas of the university must be immediately removed. He also instructed everyone to discontinue the use of the term “Christmas” in their speech (emails and voicemail) while on the job. This censorship specifically includes exchanging email greetings of “Merry Christmas” among employees or with nonemployees, whether initiated by a nonuniversity employee or not. Christmas remains a legal holiday for state employees, including those at SWOSU. The directive does not include any other legal holidays such as Thanksgiving or New Year’s…
Liberty Counsel’s demand letter requests an immediate reversal of the university’s unconstitutional policy. Liberty Counsel’s Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign educates and, if necessary, litigates to insure that Christmas is not censored.
Mathew D. Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “Of all places, a public university should foster free expression. How can public university officials honestly believe that the state can prohibit its employees from wishing each other ‘Merry Christmas?’ After all, Christmas is a state and federal legal holiday.”
The American Family Association’s press release arm piles on, noting that “the situation shows how political correctness is damaging the United States.”
Political Correctness? No, actually, the situation doesn’t show anything of the sort. What the situation shows is how eager some people are to find evidence of a supposed War On Christmas — so eager and whipped up that they’ll take a miscommunication between a couple of employees, assume it represents University policy, and start issuing hyperbolic press releases.
SWOSU does not ban Christmas displays or ban faculty and staff from using the word “Christmas.” Period. No political correctness. End of story.
If Liberty Counsel had just asked Southwest Oklahoma State University first, there wouldn’t have been any need to toss this false accusation around, with links surrounding press release handily directing readers astonished at the accusation to make a helpful contribution of cash to the group.
This isn’t the first time Liberty Counsel has thrown around false accusations. There was the time that Liberty Counsel asked for monetary contributions while telling people that some school district had changed the lyrics to “Silent Night” in order to excise all references to Christmas. That wasn’t true, either, but Liberty Counsel sure raked in the donations.
It’s all about the cash. Cash is the reason for the season.
You used to hear “Merry Christmas all over the place, even from people who weren’t particularly religious. Sometimes people would even wish Mormons and Muslims a merry Christmas. It just seemed right for the season.
This year, at work or on the street, all I heard was “Happy Holidays”. It’s like no one dared get into the spirit for fear of being politically branded as a right-wing extremist. Kind of sad, really.
People still wish each other merry Christmas in church without batting an eyelash, but I wonder how long that’s going to last.
i’ve noticed a secular trend to it recently when i visited homes of non-Christian families festooned with colored lights, and decorated fir trees with presents beneath. It’s a corporate national holiday now: more like X-mas than Christmas. No one cares about the religious side of it in these households (it’s a mere footnote). These families seem happy just to enjoy the day and its requisite gift-giving and celebratory feasting without the religious trappings. So be it . . .
i don’t even enjoy the gift-giving. it seems so much more personal and thoughtful when somebody gives me a gift out of nowhere.
people still wish jews a merry christmas, quite often. but when they do, and the jews wish them a happy hannukah in fair response, they sometimes decide to try to beat the crap out of the jews. which, understandably, might make some jews a little nervous the next time they hear “Merry Christmas”.
That’s the true meaning of the season, after all – beating the crap out of non-Christians!