The War on Christmas Exists

As outlined by Con in the opening round, I have the BOP to show that there exists an organized effort by a large organization to defeat Christmas. I understand “defeat” in this context to mean diminish the importance or prevalence of Christmas, and in particular the Christian conception of Christmas, in Western society. This is the way the phrase is used by those in media and politics who discuss the issue and so it is the best definition for this debate. Moreover, sine Christmas is not a physical entity that could be literally defeated, we can only interpret a war on Christmas to be a concerted effort to fight influence of Christmas in our society. This debate is not about whether or not the war on Christmas has been successful or has had a huge impact. The simple fact that Christmas has been and remains an enormously popular and visible holiday does not disprove my case. A disastrously ineffectual war on Christmas is nonetheless a war on Christmas.This debate is also not about whether the scale of the war on Christmas has been exaggerated. Con may prove that Bill O'Reilly is overblown in his screeds against the war on Christmas, by Bill O'Reilly is overblown in his screeds against everything- even those issues which are legitimate concerns. My job in this debate is to prove the war on Christmas exists, not to defend anyone else's reaction to its existence.1) The war on Christmas is pursued most commonly by legal attempts to push Christmas out of the public sphere. Many organizations conduct legal battles in an attempt to alter traditional celebrations of Christmas in the public sphere but I will focus on one organization as a test case: The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) With over 20,000 members, the FFRF meets the criteria of a large organization and participates in a wide range of organized efforts to promote the separation of church and state and educate the public on anti-religious ideology. http://en.wikipedia.org... The FFRF has engaged in several organized efforts to diminish the importance of Christmas.a) They posted a sign next to a nativity scene in the Washington State Capitol building stating “At this season of the WINTER SOLSTICE may reason prevail…religion is but a myth that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.” Following the posting of this sign, the state opted to remove all holiday decorations from the capitol building. In this way the FFRF successfully fought against the influence of Christmas. http://www.cnn.com... b) The FFRF advertises products to promote the war on Christmas. FFRF sells a large line of products aimed at displacing Christmas from the center of winter celebrations, including slogans such as “Yes Virginia...There is no God!” This is an attempt by the organization to co-opt the gift giving of Christmas to spread anti-Christmas advertising. This is a targeted effort to change how Christmas is perceived. c) The FFRF co-president said “We see Christianity as the intruder, trying to steal the natural holiday from all of us humans.” This clearly illustrates that FFRF is directly motivated by hostility toward the celebration of Christmas. http://ffrf.org... d) The FFRF sent a threatening letter to a Michigan school after the school used the phrase “Christmas break” on their school calendar. After consulting the legal counsel, the school opted to change the language to avoid a possible legal battle. Here is a direct example of the legal resources of a large organization being used to prohibit even the use of the word “Christmas.” http://ffrf.org... e) FFRF complained until a small town changed the name of their “keep Christ in Christmas” parade. http://www.theglobaldispatch.com... f) FFRF lobbied and threatened lawsuits to get a Wisconsin town to remove a nativity scene that had been a 50 year old Christmas tradition. http://www.wlwt.com... g) Sponsored a billboard with a child writing to Santa that she is too old to believe in the fairytale of God: http://allenbwest.com... 2) The broader atheist community carries a strong vein of anti-Christmas sentiment. This sentiment coalesces into various anti-Christmas legal actions and grass-roots action against manifestations of Christmas in Western society. Through a constellation of student organization and local societies atheist group engage in ground-level initiatives to fight the war on Christmas. One Wisconsin group mocked installations meant to celebrate Christmas by creating several fake religious placards to place near Christmas installations. The group created a “Game of Thrones” religious sign to be placed near a nativity scene (seriously what is the beef with nativity scenes?!) featuring the phrase “the new gods are but myth and superstition." http://wiscatheists.blogspot.com... They try to shape the narrative of the founding of America to minimize the importance of Christmas traditions in the US: http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com... Some in the atheist community compare the “Dominant Culture” of those who celebrate Christmas to the “dominant” mentality of the Japanese and Nazis of world war II and urge individuals to shun organizations that support the dominant Christmas culture. http://scienceblogs.com... This rise in grassroots anti-Christmas activism has led to lasting local policy changes. For example, NYC public school policy prohibits the display of nativity scenes but permits the display of the Jewish menorah and the Muslim star and crescent. http://www.csmonitor.com... Con may argue that the bulk of my examples are not actually examples of the war on Christmas but are instead issue of separation of Church and State, though this argument fails on several counts. First, I have shown several examples of how the FFRF uses advertising and merchandise to try and displace Christmas as the premiere winter celebration. These examples are independent of 1st amendment issues. Second, I have provided statements that show the FFRF explicitly views Christmas as an intruder and wants to displace it. This shows that the motivation of their efforts is not merely protection of 1st amendment rights. Third, 1st amendment legal battles are the low-hanging fruit of the war on Christmas. Anti-Christmas organizations know they can have a big influence on the reach of Christmas by using well established legal tactics, giving them a high return on investment for seeking out these battles. That the war on Christmas manifests itself in 1st amendment legal battles does not disprove that the war exists. Fourth, even if these legal battles are genuine attempts to maintain a severe separation of Church and State, they still represent the existence of a war on Christmas. Such attempts are still attempts to diminish the influence of Christmas by organizations that view it as a bad things. My opponent will likely argue that the institutions, blogs, and individuals I cite above will all swear up and down that no War on Christmas exists. What the combatants in a battle claim they are doing is immaterial compared to the hostile acts they commit. I have shown many examples of how the atheist community works to diminish the importance and prevalence of Christmas in Western society. The loud protestation of these communities against the existence of the war on Christmas is no more than the “I’m not racist, but…” before their concerted effort against Christmas celebrations.