In the Biblical story, the first Christmas occurred in a stable because there was no room at the inn for Joseph and Mary. Sadly, in many quarters, there is still no room at the inn for Christ and Christmas as elites seek to cleanse the public square of anything religious.
This year, legislators in Wisconsin debated whether theirs was a Christmas tree or must now be a holiday tree. (Are there other December holidays symbolized by a tree?) Meanwhile, a West Virginia mayor sought, ultimately without success, to remove a long-standing Christmas parade in favor of a “winter parade.” A student in California was told that Joy to the World might be too religious for her piano assignment, and perhaps she should try Jingle Bells instead. Finally, this year Starbucks threw up its corporate hands and settled for “Merry Coffee” on its holiday cups. Ho Ho Ho!
One of these battles in the larger war captured a key issue that deserves our attention. Local officials in Rehoboth, Delaware, ordered a nativity scene that had been on the town square since the 1930s to be removed in the name of being more inclusive. “We didn’t want to be exclusive,” the mayor explained.
I would have thought that being inclusive was mathematically a matter of addition, not subtraction. Wouldn’t making room at the inn, or in the public square, for additional holiday expressions besides Christmas be “inclusive?” But apparently, in the strange world of liberal politics and secular elites, we have to exclude to be inclusive.
This same misguided notion has appeared in the raging debate over income inequality. Thomas Piketty and others who have led the inequality debate argue that it’s no longer enough to help those on the bottom economically move up, but it is necessary to bring down those at the top. It is neither right nor fair for the wealthiest individuals to hold such a disproportionate amount of money, they say, so we need a wealth tax, not just an income tax, on the super-rich. The goal, then, is no longer to help some rise up the ladder of economic success but to bring others down.
RandyMarsh
Article URL : https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/in-2019-theres-still-no-room-at-the-inn-for-christmas