Mark Steyn Has A Liberal Christmas

Mr. Steyn reflects on the current state of Christmas.

But every time some sensitive flower pulls off a legal victory over the school board, who really wins? For the answer to that, look no further than last month's election results. Forty years of ACLU efforts to eliminate God from the public square have led to a resurgent, evangelical and politicized Christianity in America. By ''politicized,'' I don't mean that anyone who feels his kid should be allowed to sing ''Silent Night'' if he wants to is perforce a Republican, but only that year in, year out, it becomes harder for such folks to support a secular Democratic Party closely allied with the anti-Christmas militants. American liberals need to rethink their priorities: What's more important? Winning a victory over the New Jersey kindergarten teacher's holiday concert, or winning back Congress and the White House?

In Britain and Europe, by contrast, the formal and informal symbols of religious faith remained in place in national life and there were no local equivalent to America's militant litigants, and the result is the total collapse of Christianity: Across the continent, the churches are empty. In attempting to sue God out of public life, American liberals demonstrate yet again that they're great on tactics, lousy on long-term strategy.

Oh, well. 'Tis the season of goodwill to all men, so in that spirit let me wish the ACLU a Happy Boxing Day. Yes, I know. Dec. 26 is Boxing Day only in Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc., not in Illinois. But I don't see why America's fetishization of multiculturalism shouldn't extend to white, English-speaking cultures. And at least you won't get sued for saying it.

I hope "they" are not reading this.