Still Christmas even if you're forbidden to say it outloud

You know it's the Christmas season again because of all the complaining that it isn't Christmas anymore.

Not like it used to be. Not like back in the day before P.C. when it was a wonderful life and people used to say "Merry Christmas" at the company Christmas party and Hanukkah didn't get equal time and the city set up a nativity scene on the courthouse steps and the town choir sang "Oh Christmas Tree" and "Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful."

It sure isn't 1990 anymore.

I was reminded of this in an e-mail sent by a group called GrasstopsUSA.com.

Among their points about Christmas just not being Christmas:

• Costco, Wal-Mart, Sears, Kmart and Kohl's won't allow "the dreaded C-word in their advertising."

• A Lowe's store selling fir trees in Texas calls them "Fresh Cut Holiday Trees."

• The city of Denver banned a float in its holiday parade for having a Christian theme.

• The school district in South Orange, N.J., banned playing "Silent Night," even instrumentally.

• All this, in a country that the e-mail reports is "85 percent Christian — more Christian than Israel is Jewish; more Christian than India is Hindu."

---

I think I'm supposed to be alarmed by all these revelations. But I'm not. Being a part of the 85 percent Christian majority, I'm glad we're not throwing our weight around, all Taliban-like.

I can just see the Puritans and Quakers and Baptists and all those other good Christians who first came to America to flee religious oppression smiling their approval.

If the people in charge were saying we couldn't call it Christmas on a private basis, now that would be a big problem. Not only couldn't we all fit into the Mayflower, but let's face it, there's really nowhere for 250 million people to flee to escape religious oppression.

What would our options be? The Australian Outback? The Northwest Territories? Karl Malone's house?

But no one is restricting private celebrations of Christmas in America any more than they are restricting private practicing of religion. This is still The Place for religious freedom — now more than ever as population and religious denominations increase.

The longer I live, the more I believe that what this growing country needs is more sensitivity to others, not less.