Did the Jews steal Christmas?
By M.J. Rosenberg December 23, 2004

It's hard to believe but there is a movement among elements of the extreme right to attack American Jews for "taking Christ out of Christmas." These ugly manifestations are filling the talk radio air waves and far-right websites.

But the most alarming attacks are coming from Bill O'Reilly at Fox News, the most widely watched political commentator on cable. His latest crusade is against the trend toward wishing people "Happy Holidays "rather than "Merry Christmas." His outrage was spurred by the Macy's department store which is now using the religiously neutral term.

And he's been going on and on about it, with little effort to disguise who he considers guilty. Things came to a head when a Jewish caller said that he was concerned not so much about Christmas but about people at his college trying "to convert me to Christianity."

Here is O'Reilly's response -- heard by his millions of viewers: "All right. Well, what I'm tellin' you, is I think you're takin' it too seriously. You have a predominantly Christian nation. You have a federal holiday based on the philosopher Jesus. And you don't wanna hear about it? Come on -- if you are really offended, you gotta go to Israel then. I mean because we live in a country founded on Judeo -- and that's your guys' -- Christian, that's my guys' philosophy. But overwhelmingly, America is Christian. And the holiday is a federal holiday honoring the philosopher Jesus. So, you don't wanna hear about it? Impossible. And that is an affront to the majority. You know, the majority can be insulted, too. And that's what this anti-Christmas thing is all about."

Abraham Foxman of the ADL responded with a letter and press release telling O'Reilly that his remarks play "into one of the oldest anti-Semitic canards about Jews, that they are not full citizens of a country and are not entitled to all of the rights afforded to the majority. The notion that religious minorities have no place in a Christian America and should leave may be acceptable for extremists, but it is unacceptable coming from a popular and respected media commentator."

That didn't stop O'Reilly. He told his viewers that Foxman is a "nut" and that the ADL is "a militant organization" -- which could, if "used" by secularists, cause a "backlash against Jewish Americans" which O'Reilly pledges "to make sure doesn't happen" (thanks, Bill!). Now Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) has joined Foxman and is circulating a letter to Fox demanding an apology from O'Reilly and is working to get her fellow House members to join her. No doubt, O'Reilly will have some choice things to say about Lowey who, of course, does not celebrate Christmas either.

And it's not just O'Reilly and Fox. On MSNBC last week William Donahue of the Catholic League insisted, "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? They like to see the public square without nativity scenes." Other pundits who have addressed the supposed anti-Christmas onslaught include Tony Snow, Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes.

Perhaps the most cynical reaction to the whole affair comes from Charles Krauthammer who, in today's Washington Post , ridicules Jews -- and other non-Christians who are bothered by the erosion of the separation of church and state -- for displaying "profound ungenerosity toward a majority of fellow citizens who have shown such generosity of spirit toward minority religions."

This from a guy, so sensitive on Jewish matters, that he smears as hostile to Jews anyone who, say, states that Israel would be better off without the West Bank and Gaza or that Palestinians are as entitled to the same basic human rights as the rest of us. But anti-semitism from his ideological allies offends him not at all.

The hypocrisy is mind-numbing, but so is the idea that the O'Reillys and Krauthammers are so blind to just where their idea of American Jews as a tolerated minority could lead.

Foxman and Lowey deserve credit for taking on this issue. And so does the website MediaMatters which not only reports on what bigots are up to but allows you to watch or listen to the actual clips you were fortunate enough to miss when they first aired.

The bottom line is that this whole issue is a fake. No serious Christian is bothered by a Macy's clerk who wishes him "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" just as no serious Jew is offended by being wished a "Merry Christmas." The O'Reillys and others of his ilk are simply using one of the two holiest days on the Christian calendar to drive wedges between Americans. And that should offend us all.

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