Thursday, December 24, 2009
(graphic: militarygallery.net)
Bill O’Reilly and some conservative advocacy groups have claimed that “secular progressives” are staging a “War on Christmas” because they choose to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” The American Family Association has even launched a boycott of Gap stores because they include non-Christian holidays in their ads. But if you want to see a real war on Christmas, you have to go to Iraq.
Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ comes with extreme risk in Iraq this year, as terrorist groups have threatened attacks on Christian churches on Christmas Day. Security precautions being taken include building earthen berms around churches, stationing police outside them, and inspecting worshippers for hidden bombs. Many Christians are planning to skip services altogether to reduce their risk of injury. Officials say things haven’t been this precarious for Christians since 2006, when sectarian violence rocked Iraq. The government is unable to say how many Christians live in the country, only that 750,000 were present at the time of the U.S. invasion in 2003.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
Abbreviating Christmas in Iraq (by Timothy Williams, New York Times)
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