For the last couple decades, Senator Jim Inhofe has ridden a horse in the Tulsa Christmas parade, year after year. And he has loved it. With a twinkle in his eyes, he proudly says, "There are only two things I do well. Ride horses and fly planes." He was all set to ride in the parade last year for the nth time, when he found out that they had dropped "Christmas" from the name of the parade. Now it’s just the "holiday" parade. He hadn’t realized it until he showed up last year. So he said then (and he says now), "I’m not riding in this."
        I had the privilege of interviewing Sen. Inhofe the other day for a religious television program on a variety of issues, when he happened to mention his recent decision to boycott the parade because of the name change---which is just one more example of what’s been called the war on Christmas. Said the Senator, "Now they’re making a big issue in Tulsa, Oklahoma that I’m refusing to ride, as I’ve done for decades in the Christmas parade because they took Jesus out of the Christmas parade. Well, if He goes, I go."
        If more people were courageous like Sen. Inhofe, we’d probably not see the further secularization of the Christmas season. Perhaps, I should say "holiday season." An interesting irony of the anti-Christmas forces that use the word holiday is the origin of the word….holiday is a contraction of holy day---that’s why there’s only one l in holiday. Gee, I wonder what holy day that would be referring to?
        Every year like clockwork, the Grinches come out of the woodwork in their war against Christmas.
         For example, a group of atheists in New York City have paid for a billboard ad with an anti-Christmas message in the wording. (If you didn’t speak English, you would assume the ad was a pro-Christmas message, as it shows the wise men going to worship the baby Jesus in the distance, under the Bethlehem star.) But the billboard declares "You know it's a myth. This season celebrate reason." Well, I celebrate both Christmas and reason, and I know plenty of intellectuals who do as well. Just try struggling through one page of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica and tell me that faith and reason are incompatible. The great appeal of Christmas is that the message is simple enough to satisfy people with all levels of IQ.
         It is strange when you consider how threatening a manger scene is to some in our society today. It represents a baby, for heaven’s sake. A baby that escaped the clutches of King Herod. A baby that inspires acts of mercy and love all over the world. A baby that received gifts from the wise men which has inspired the annual season of gift-giving. Frankly, I think all the retailers in this country should assemble on December 26 each year, hold hands, and sing, "What a friend we have in Jesus."
         And yet the war on Christmas goes on unabated. It’s as if He is not invited to His own birthday party. A few years ago, children at the Ridgeway Elementary School in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, performing in a "winter program," were to sing the melody of "Silent Night" but with the words, "Cold in the night, no one in sight, winter winds whirl and bite, how I wish I were happy and warm, safe with my family out of the storm." The school officials didn’t dare offend anyone with the original words of the classic carol.
        But at the end of the day, nothing can stop Christmas. After all, we’re talking about the religion of the catacombs.
Even the Grinch in the classic tale couldn’t stop Christmas. Nor can the "holiday parade" organizers of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It’s just too bad that we find that now the war on Christmas reaching even into a place like Tulsa. New York City I can understand, but Tulsa? With each passing year, it seems that the only principle getting stronger in our culture is the ABC principle. Anything But Christ.
        Hopefully, the town officials in Tulsa will not jettison reason, but come to their senses and relent, so that the good senator will be able to saddle up once again to celebrate Christmas this year, as in times past.