Jews speak up for "Merry Christmas"

STATEMENT BY DON FEDER AT JAACD PRESS CONFERENCE - "Jews For It’s OK To Say ‘Merry Christmas'"

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Don Feder and I’m the president of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation. Our organization was founded to provide a Jewish response to anti-Christian bias in the news media, entertainment, government and the culture.

Our board of advisors includes distinguished rabbis, scholars, academics, authors and communicators.

Let me anticipate your first question today: What on earth are we doing here? Why would a group of Jews - who don’t celebrate Christmas - care about the disappearance of Christmas?

Because Christmas is disappearing from our culture, at an ever-accelerating pace - disappearing from stores, disappearing from schools and disappearing from the public square.

Because this is an overwhelmingly Christian nation and it’s a matter of simple courtesy to acknowledge a holiday celebrated by 96% of the American people. Would a Christian living in Israel be offended if someone wished them a Happy Hanukah? Based on population, America is more Christian than Israel is Jewish.

Because religion - all religion which teaches God and morality -- enriches our society, instead of diminishing it.

Because Christmas is part of the fabric of American life, from the earliest settlements on these shores, to the delightful 1897 New York Sun editorial (addressed to a little girl named Virginia), to the troops who celebrated Christmas in Europe and the Pacific during World War II, to classics like "Miracle on 34th. Street," to the Americans serving in Iraq today.

I believe Christmas is under attack primarily for three reasons.

First the tyranny of the hypersensitive -- who’ve decided that they have an inalienable right not to encounter beliefs or symbols different from their own.

But this is supposed to be a democracy. When exactly was a militant and perpetually aggrieved minority given the power to censor the majority religion?

Second, some over-zealous officials have taken it upon themselves to re-interpret the First Amendment to exclude any public recognition of Christmas. But the Supreme Court has never held that Christmas carols or Christmas decorations in schools, or community Christmas trees or Christmas parties are unconstitutional.

Of course, if the politically correct posse can’t get you on constitutional grounds, they always have "sensitivity" or "inclusiveness" to fall back on.

Finally, I believe, there’s a subliminal urge on the part of the cultural elite to undermine America’s Judeo-Christian ethic. By purging public celebrations (or even acknowledgements) of Christmas, they hope move us further down the road to a spiritually sanitized - and spiritually bankrupt -- America, one divorced from biblical values.

Christmas is a subtle reminder that Americans are people of faith.

Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation is here today to say "enough, already!"

If you’re offended by a municipal Christmas tree or Santa in a holiday parade or a manger in a park - Get over it. There’s a lot that offends me. That doesn’t give me the right to ban it.

If you’re a public-school administrator who thinks Christmas carols or decorations are in violation of the First Amendment, read the Constitution - even in light of the Supreme Court’s current distortions thereof.

If you’re a retailer who does 20% of his business during the Christmas season, and you won’t even acknowledge the holiday that’s enriching you - well, you deserve to lose that business.

The war on Christmas should matter to all people of faith - and all people of good will.