The reason(s) for the season

This month our recently re-elected governor found herself in the cross hairs of venerable blowhard and well-known hypocrite Bill O’Reilly for – get this – obeying the law and respecting peoples’ rights.

Imagine! The nerve of this woman, upholding the Constitution and allowing minority opinion the same rights as those of the majority, despite her own personal beliefs.

At issue, of course, is the display at the Capital that was paid for and supported by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The sign, stuffed in among a Christmas (sorry, “Holiday”) Tree, a nativity scene and other holiday paraphernalia (a menorah is coming soon), wishes everyone a happy solstice and then takes an opportunity to take a couple of potshots at religion in general.

It doesn’t discriminate; it blasts all religion as “myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

The purpose is to remind people that well before Christianity decided to start celebrating Christmas in late December (something that really didn’t come about until the Middle Ages), pagans, Romans and other “heathens” still celebrated at that time because of the winter solstice.

Or, to co-opt a standard Christmas phrase, “Solstice is the Reason for the Season.”

Many scholars believe that early Christians co-opted both the celebrations and many of the traditions (like the tree, for example) as part of their own as Christianity grew and spread across the world.

The Christmas Tree as we know it, for example, didn’t really make a serious appearance in America until the 1850s. It wasn’t even a federal holiday until Ulysses S. Grant made it so in 1870.

But never mind that. To O’Reilly and his ilk, this is another shot fired in the War on Christmas, the yearly straw man that allows conservative commentators the nation over to scream and yell about the “Reason for the Season” while ignoring the whole bit about Judging Lest Not Being Judged themselves.

I must confess, I am not a strict Christian. (Surprise!) I know all the stories and did my time as a wee youngster in Sunday School, but my family did not place a big emphasis on the church and it is not a part of my life.

I am all for others going if they want. But even more to the point, I am all for spending my Sunday mornings with a cup of coffee, a copy of the New York Times and the latest episode of “Meet the Press” (Praise be to Russert…)

But what strikes me as odd is that O’Reilly also routinely professes to be a conservative, which should prefer a strict interpretation of the Constitution, which is pretty clear in its views on religion: Keep them out of my government.

Even Gov. Christine Gregoire and (Republican) Attorney General Rob McKenna have said they don’t agree with the sentiment on the sign, but because of a lawsuit filed last year, the state must allow it, regardless of the group’s views.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has been consistent and clear that, under the Constitution’s First Amendment, once government admits one religious display or viewpoint onto public property, it may not discriminate against the content of other displays, including the viewpoints of non-believers,” the pair said in a press release.

O’Reilly last week put the governor on blast, calling the sign “offensive” and Gregoire a “coward” and “loony.” He also showed little to no understanding of the Lemon Test, set up by the Supreme Court in its 1971 decision Lemon v. Kurtzman, which said that to be constitutional, any law must have a secular purpose, must not have the primary purpose of advancing or inhibiting any religion and must not result in excessive entanglement of government and religion.

No real discussion of this matter could reasonably ignore the case or the test. O’Reilly, of course, is neither reasonable nor wanted a real discussion.

He also lets his hypocrisy show just a bit through his blatant insults of our elected official as well as his complete disregard for the ideas of personal liberty and strict readings of the Constitution, both of which would essentially say “who cares?” and require that solstice worshippers get the same space as Santa worshippers.

A similar sign has graced the Wisconsin state capital for 13 years, by the way. O’Reilly has yet to notice.

To me, the whole thing is funny. Whether a strict Christian or not, I love Christmas. I always have. I think it is a wonderful holiday, filled with good times, family and giving.

However, I am much more of a “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”-type of Christmas guy than an “A Charlie Brown Christmas” type.

In “Grinch,” the Whos celebrate this great and wonderful day that has a special meaning, though “Jesus” or “God” is never mentioned. Essentially, it’s a secular holiday celebrating Joy and Hope and Fellowship and all that happy crap.

I am all for that. And given its pagan beginnings, I am all for a Christmas Tree being displayed as a secular symbol as opposed to a religious one.

But no one can deny that allowing a creche in the capital would be favoring one religion over another. Hence, anyone who wants to put in a display gets to.

And I mean anyone. A Festivus Pole (the holiday created by George Costanza’s father on “Seinfeld”), is reportedly on the way, as is something commemorating the Flying Spaghetti Monster, for example.

But more than anything, for Christians to be upset over this as an affront to their religion seems silly to me. After all, the entire religion is based on forgiveness and turning the other cheek and not judging lest ye be judged.

Seems to me that the real Christian thing to do would be to forgive these silly atheists and then completely ignore them. Let God deal with them. How a bunch of pagans celebrate their holiday should not affect how a bunch of Christians celebrate theirs, even if they happen at the same time.

It also does not denigrate in any way our founding traditions. Our Constitution was written to protect everyone’s right to believe (or not believe) in the god of their choice. Besides, there was a country for nearly 100 years before we started officially celebrating Christmas.

Plus, with a $6 billion budget hole, certainly our governor has more on her mind.

And may this holiday season – whatever holiday it is you celebrate or don’t – bring nothing but the best to you and your family.