Ceasefire Proposed in the "War on Christmas"

Finally someone is calling Bill O'Reilly and others out on their phony war on Christmas:

Christian Leaders Call for a 'Ceasefire in the Christmas Culture Wars'

Open Letter Urges Bill O'Reilly, Bill Donohue and John Gibson to Join a Campaign that focuses on the Common Good

Washington, DC - Catholic social justice leaders, religious sisters and evangelical Christians have called for a "ceasefire in the Christmas culture wars' and challenged Bill O'Reilly and others who have lashed out against a so-called secular "War on Christmas' to join them in a campaign that restores a focus on the common good during this holy season.

In an "Open Letter to Christmas Culture Warriors' published as an advertisement in the New York Post, Washington Times and the National Catholic Reporter, the group says that outrage over some department stores using "Happy Holidays' instead of "Merry Christmas' is a distraction from the profound moral challenges we face in confronting the threats to human dignity in our world.

"We believe the real assault on Christmas is how a season of peace, forgiveness and goodwill has been sidelined by a focus on excessive consumerism,' the letter states. "The powerful message Christ brings to the world is good news for the poor. Instead, Christmas is being reduced to a corporate-sponsored holiday that idolizes commerce and materialism.'

The letter will be published in the Dec. 4 issue of the Washington Times and New York Post and in the Dec. 14 issue of the National Catholic Reporter.

Fox News commentator John Gibson's 2005 book, The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse Than You Thought, denounced what he and other pundits describe as a secular agenda intent on destroying Christmas and driving religion from the public square. William Donohue, executive director of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, has warned of "cultural fascists" taking over Christmas. Bill O'Reilly has made the "War on Christmas" a prominent seasonal feature of his popular Fox broadcast.

"Christmas marks a season of hope, peace and the light of justice illuminating the dark corners of our world,' said Alexia Kelley, Executive Director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. "At a time of a real war in Iraq, and 37 million of our American neighbors living in poverty, we should be focusing on promoting peace and human dignity in our world.'

"When we consider the true meaning of Christmas, its sacredness is not validated by prescribed greetings or slogans in department stores," said Rev. Derrick Harkins, Senior Pastor of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, DC and a board member of the evangelical humanitarian relief agency World Relief. "If we are truly serious about the importance of Christmas, we will remember that its message of love and hope was shared with disenfranchised shepherds first,which should prompt us to be far more concerned with how the season is shared in word and deed with the poor and hurting among us."

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Click here to view the letter and list of signatories.

Sadly here is Bill Donohue's reply:

In today’s edition of the Washington Times, a group of mostly lefty Christians has charged that Bill O’Reilly, John Gibson and Bill Donohue should stop fighting the secular war on Christmas and instead join their efforts to combat poverty and war. They are particularly incensed by Donohue’s use of the term “cultural fascists.” Donohue replied as follows:

“As someone who taught in the ghetto helping the urban poor to lift themselves out of poverty, I need no lectures from those whose idea of helping the poor is opening a can of soup for them. And as a veteran, I have done more to promote the cause of peace than all the surrender types have ever done. Indeed, they owe their very existence to people like me.

As for the term “cultural fascists,” I suggest my critics get up to speed: See my news release of 11-27-07—I use the term “multicultural monsters.”

I really wish someone could get him to stop saying that he speaks for all Catholics.