‘War on Christmas’ was settled a long time ago

“ ‘Merry Christmas’ – because Donald Trump is now the president, you can say it again.”

That’s how former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski teed it up for Fox News’ Sean Hannity last week.

Just a year ago, then-candidate Donald Trump told supporters, “If I become president, we’re all going to be saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again, that I can tell you.”

The election, read by these lights, looks like a salvo in the now decades-long contretemps known as the War on Christmas. And now we’re firmly in that time of year when cable talking heads flip out and blame the forces of politically correct secularism for cashiers who greet us with “Happy Holidays.”

The catch: There already was a war on Christmas in the United States. It happened centuries ago, and Christmas won decisively.

There was a time when Christmas faced far more opposition than it ever could now. For a good chunk of the 17th century, Christmas was flatly outlawed in a number of places in Puritan America – not exactly a hotbed of secular political correctness that might draw Trump’s scorn.

Many Puritans contended that Christmas lacked biblical justification, since the Bible makes no explicit reference to Dec. 25. They viewed celebrations as the sort of pageantry and idolatry endorsed by “papists” (a derogatory term for Catholics, whom they reviled).

In 1659, the Massachusetts Bay Colony banned Christmas celebrations. Even taking the day off was made illegal, unless of course it was a Sunday.

Even when the Massachusetts law forbidding Christmas was repealed in 1681, the day remained an object of contempt, and its celebration taboo. A few decades later, a Boston church had its windows smashed – for celebrating Christmas.

Even in the early 19th century, Christmas often went neglected by the newspapers, and was a day of significance only for certain slices of the population. And in no state did Christmas become an official holiday until the 1830s.

However, the mid-1800s saw a Christmas renaissance. The groups which had sought to banish or suppress Christmas began modifying their positions. After the Civil War, Christmas celebrations were one way the country began to embrace a renewed national unity. Finally, in 1870, Christmas became a federal holiday.

In the original War on Christmas, it was the celebrating itself that was seen as the cultural breakdown. In the war Lewandowski imagines – and I do mean imagines – his side is all that stands between us and the breakdown of our traditions and values.

Except there’s never been a time in our lives devoid of Christmas shopping, music, trees, cards or greetings. The First Amendment guarantees our right to observe it. And our right, if we choose, not to. We’ve never not been free to say “Merry Christmas,” and saying “Happy Holidays” at the mall won’t change that.

This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 5:01 AM with the headline "‘War on Christmas’ was settled a long time ago."