Ammunition for your Turkey Day arguments

Ah, Thanksgiving...that classic American holiday in which families gather together to stuff themselves stupid, watch football, and tiptoe delicately around safe conversation topics. Inevitably, Grampa Joe or Aunt Sally will bring up the latest rant from their favorite pundit, often a criticism of some new and dastardly way the ACLU is destroying the fabric of America. Like any polite relative, you'll avoid engaging and politely change the subject to something non-controversial - like who was on Leno last night. Right?


Ah, who are we kidding? If we were people who avoid engaging in controversial conversation, we wouldn't be the ACLU.


So, should you decide to embarrass your poor family by going point-for-point against your misinformed but opinionated relatives, we want you to be well-armed with the ACLU member's favorite ammunition: logic and cold, hard fact. Here are a few of the most popular lies about the ACLU, and how to argue against them.


MYTH: The ACLU is fighting a war against Christmas


Much as we'd miss our annual deluge of Christmas cards and their heartwarming holiday spirit ("Merry Christmas, you atheist bastards!") the truth is we have nothing against people observing and celebrating Christmas. Personally, I love Christmas. Where we have a problem is where governments implicitly endorse one specific religious belief by putting on Christmas celebrations, and forgetting everyone else. 


But the fact is, even when we file a suit, it's always against a government entity and it's against things like nativity scenes and crucifixes - stuff that represents a specific faith, not symbols of a shared cultural season like Christmas trees or Santa. We've never insisted anyone change the name to "holiday tree," and we have nothing whatsoever to do with private stores like Macy's and Walmart choosing to say "Happy Holidays." They do that to try to be respectful of all their shoppers, which to us seems pretty in-line with "peace on earth and good will toward men."


MYTH: The ACLU is suing to remove crosses from military cemeteries.


This is patently untrue, and was made up out of whole cloth to smear the ACLU. In fact, the ACLU believes very strongly in the right of each person to express their religion, and we would fight hard against anyone who told a Christian soldier that he or she could not choose to have a cross on his or her headstone. But don't take our word for it. Check with Snopes.


MYTH: The ACLU sued to stop Marines from engaging in prayer.


Once again, Snopes comes in handy. Patently untrue, and demonstrates a frequent misunderstanding of our defense of religious liberty. The ACLU fights hard to defend the rights of every American to express his or her religion freely. What we oppose is government endorsement or enforcement of religion. This is why, for instance, we will defend the right of a child or children to choose to pray in a public school, but oppose the school's endorsement of such, including any school official leading that prayer.


A recent rumor is that the ACLU is trying to introduce Sharia law into US government, which is as untrue as it is ludicrous. We defend the rights of Muslims to observe their religion as they choose, just as we defend the rights of Christians to do the same.  What we oppose is the introduction of those religious laws into the government.


On a related note, there's a great web site, The ACLU Fights for Christians (maintained by a kind supporter) to show anyone who tells you that the ACLU is anti-Christian.


MYTH: The ACLU runs the CIA


Our apologies to guests at the Bachmann Thanksgiving table, but no matter how many times you hear this repeated, it just isn't true.


We're not saying we wouldn't like to be in charge - we have a lot of great ideas, like stopping waterboarding and other torture altogether, closing secret prisons and Guantanamo Bay, and respecting Constitutional requirements like due process and habeas corpus. We've been shouting pretty loud about all those things for a while now, as have the majority of Americans who want the same things - but they don't appear to be charge of the CIA either.

So there you go. There are, of course, no shortage of other lies, misunderstandings, and distortions about the ACLU, but we thought we'd stick with the classics. Granted, you probably won't win any points with your relatives for starting a screaming match. When in doubt, there's nothing wrong with being polite - if you have to, you can always rely on the clip below. Happy Thanksgiving!

Chris in Philly

'Tis the Season

The kitchen door in our Philadelphia office

Greetings in the Harrisburg office

Just a quick note of thanks to all of the kind people who have sent cards wishing us a Merry Christmas. They really brighten up the office.

Whatever you do or don't celebrate this time of year, or any other time of year, warmest wishes from your friends at the ACLU of Pennsylvania!

Chris in Philly

The Old "War on Christmas" Song and Dance

"War on Christmas commences," declared the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights last month.

This is not the first skirmish in this supposed war. According to the Catholic League, Fox News, and other right wing organizations, this struggle has been raging for years. If you believe Bill O'Reilly, this war is being waged by the "loony left, the Kool-Aid secular progressive ACLU America-haters."

Huh. I must have missed that memo.

What I did receive from my employers was a reiteration of the ACLU's commitment to defending personal religious freedom and protecting that personal choice by opposing government involvement in endorsing one viewpoint over another:

"The ACLU supports the rights of Christians and all religious people to celebrate their holidays in public spaces. We oppose government action that promotes or endorses particular religions or religion over non-religion. Our views are dictated by the Constitution of the United States and are motivated by our commitment to religious liberty for all Americans."

The ACLU may be best known for its work in defending the separation of church and state (which indeed, for the most literal-minded among us, is not in the Constitution - at least in those exact words; rather, it is a description by Thomas Jefferson of the First Amendment's anti-establishment clause, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."). The fact of the matter is, however, that we are equally vigorous in our support of personal religious freedom. Among the recent cases in which we advocated for the Consitutional right to religious expression are:

• a lawsuit on behalf of a New Jersey prisoner, an ordained Pentecostal minister, who had been banned from preaching and teaching Bible study classes to other prisoners
• a letter sent to a Virginia jail objecting to the jail's removal of Christian-themed materials and biblical passages from letters written to detainees
• a lawsuit on behalf of the First Apostles' Doctrine Church in Brookville, Pennsylvania, which had been prevented from providing shelter to the homeless as an expression of their Christian beliefs

Many ACLU staffers and members also celebrate Christmas, as a group of carolers from the Public Advocate for the United States found when they appeared outside the ACLU offices in Washington, D.C., a few years ago holding signs that said "Merry Christmas" and "Please Don't Sue Us" and were instead joined by staffers delighted by the festive music.

In Bill O'Reilly's world, the two major perpetrators of the "War on Christmas" are the loonies at the ACLU and the department stores. Reports of the ACLU's involvement, as they say, have been greatly exaggerated. According to Michelle Goldberg

[T]here is no war on Christmas. What there is, rather, is a burgeoning myth of a war on Christmas, assembled out of old reactionary tropes, urban legends, exaggerated anecdotes and increasingly organized hostility to the American Civil Liberties Union. It's a myth that can be self-fulfilling, as school board members and local politicians believe the false conservative claim that they can't celebrate Christmas without getting sued by the ACLU and thus jettison beloved traditions, enraging citizens and perpetuating a potent culture-war meme. This in turn furthers the myth of an anti-Christmas conspiracy.

"You have a dynamic here, where you have the Christian right hysterically overrepresenting the problem, and then anecdotally you have some towns where lawyers restrict any kind of display or representation of religion, which is equally absurd," says Chip Berlet, a senior analyst at Political Research Associates and one of the foremost experts on the religious right. "It's a closed loop. In that dynamic, neither the secular humanists or the ACLU are playing a role."

To read the whole story, visit Salon.com.

Likewise, the department stores may not be plotting quite as cleverly as they are accused of. In calling for a boycott of the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, the American Family Association claims, "For years, Gap has refused to use the word Christmas in its television commercials, newspaper ads and in-store promotions...The Gap is censoring the word Christmas, pure and simple."

The Gap's current commercials, however, feature a group of young people chanting, "Two! Four! Six! Eight! Tis the time to liberate! Go Christmas! Go Chanukah! Go Kwanzaa! Go solstice!" Maybe it's just me, but I believe Christmas is mentioned - and mentioned first, at that.

And, as Charles Henderson observes, Christmas does not seem to be in any danger of going extinct.

I'm writing this from New York City which by every estimation should be the central front of the war on Christmas. There are probably more members of the "loony left" right here in New York than anywhere. This is the world's capital of secular. The ACLU has its headquarters here.

But I can tell you that Christmas is alive and well in this city. And I find no evidence whatsoever of a war being fought against it. In fact, it is omnipresent. I spent the better part of yesterday morning in the waiting room of a doctor's office in a public hospital in the very heart of this city. There was Christmas music playing incessantly and loudly from the sound system for all to hear. The volume was so high I was tempted to request that the amplifier be turned down a bit to give the patients some peace and quiet. There was a huge Christmas tree in the lobby. Another giant, monster Christmas tree, as usual, in Rockefeller Center, not far away. A new fangled, more spectacular Christmas star hanging in mid air over the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, the heart of the shopping district. Salvation Army Santas were collecting money for the needy on many street corners. Christmas trees were selling briskly all along Broadway. Entire forests of trees. Here in the capital of Secular America Christmas is inescapable. It is vibrant. It is victorious. The churches are packed. The concerts of sacred music abound. The energy of Christmas is everywhere.

So for those of us who live in the real world - as opposed to the world inside the minds of Fox News commentators - there is no War on Christmas. I have checked our staff attorney's office, and she is not in there plotting to kidnap Santa Claus. The ACLU has every respect for Christmas. We just respect other religious and cultural traditions as well.

Becca in Harrisburg

Happy Holidays from the ACLU

Each holiday season the ACLU receives anonymous Christmas cards from concerned citizens who believe we are fighting a “war on Christmas.” Many of these are lovingly hung on the wall of our office, but it saddens us that we are unable to respond to the senders, who don’t seem to realize that we are on the same side.

Take for instance the sender who writes “if you choose not to swear to God on a bible, or repeat the words ‘one nation under God’ when reciting the pledge of allegiance, that is your right, but it is also my right to do so!” We couldn’t agree more!

Or the card inscribed, “It is my constitutional right to display my Christmas tree, manger, etc.” This is absolutely true, and we would hope to get a call from anyone told otherwise so that we could defend their right to religious expression.

It is often misunderstood that the ACLU fights for religious freedom for all Americans, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, or any other spiritual persuasion. While we will always fight government endorsement of any specific religion, we have fought and will continue to fight just as hard for the individual religious rights of citizens.

To clear things up, the ACLU has never told any store they should not say “Merry Christmas.” We are not trying to make Christmas a secular holiday. We are in no way opposed to Christmas or the Christian faith. In fact, we file many suits in defense of the religious rights of Christians. Just a month or so ago, the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit defending the right of a Christian church near Pittsburgh to operate a ministry to the homeless. There are many more examples on our web site of the ACLU going to bat for Christians, including some specifically defending observances of Christmas.

So here’s a holiday message from the ACLU to those who celebrate Christmas: make the most of your right to religious expression! Put up the biggest Christmas tree you can find! Light your crèche so bright the electric meter spins out of control, and sing your carols at the top of your lungs. Mostly, please stop stressing about the fictional war on Christmas, enjoy the time with your family, and accept the warmest of wishes from your friends, the defenders of religious freedom at the ACLU.

Inside memo leaked to blogger

MEMORANDUM
TO: ACLU Membership
DATE: Dec. 17, 2007
SUBJECT: War on Xmas

My dear Comrades:

By now, you no doubt heard. We have lost.

As Bill O'Reilly wrote last week

The far-left secular progressive community is furious, furious, I tell you about losing the war on Christmas...

All over the country, the sights and signs of Christmas are on display. Few department stores are telling employees not to say a 'Merry Christmas.' And the Taliban like oppression of the holiday has largely ceased, but the SPs (secular progressives) are not happy about that.

It pains me terribly to say it, but Bill O'Reilly...is right. We haven't killed Christmas.

Even though, for the past two years, we had been making such great strides. Oh sure, even as we had been working cleverly behind the scenes at killing Christmas, we had been busy dabbling in protecting the rights of Christians. Remember the 2003 case in which teenagers in Massachusetts were suspended for passing out candy canes with Christian messages? And we defended them? And how about that 2001 "friend-of-the-court" brief filed on behalf of Jerry Falwell defending the right of churches to incorporate in Virginia?

Ahhh, yes, but as you know, that was merely part of the coverup - a way of distracting the proletariat from our eventual success of "Taliban-like oppression." (I'd really like to know how O'Reilly got his hands on that memo.)

So why? Why have we failed? Perhaps, for this, I must take some responsibility. My assertion that nobody takes Bill O'Reilly seriously was a tactical error on my part. But, I mean, come on. Bill O'Reilly? Who would ever have imagined that clown had such influence? Other than him, of course. Obviously, his freedom-fighters in the Wal-Mart aisles were listening. And they responded with demands that Christ's message of salvation will be delivered in Martha Stewart Collection "Trousseau" decorative pillows and Toshiba 42-inch hi-def flat-screen television sets.

As York Daily Record columnist Mike Argento, who has been an undercover agent of ours for years, wrote in his dossier

Saying 'Merry Christmas' used to be a perfectly nice way of wishing someone well. Now, it's uttered like a threat.

But now is not the time for wallowing in failure. Now, is the time to look to the future and foresee the glorious victory that yet awaits us. We must regroup. We remain only 373 shopping days away from Christmas 2008.

By now you've all gotten your information packets outlining next year's talking points. Remember, and I can't stress this enough, it's important to stay on message if we're going to win this.

The official line remains: There is no war on Christmas. The ACLU defends the rights of people of all faiths to worship according to their beliefs.

Talking point No. 1: "The free exercise clause of the First Amendment guarantees the right to practice one's religion free of government interference. The establishment clause requires the separation of church and state. Combined, they ensure religious liberty."

Talking point No. 2: "The ACLU will continue working to ensure that religious liberty is protected by keeping the government out of the religion business."

Some have complained that our tactics are somewhat dishonest in light of the fact that "separation of church and state is a myth."

Fortunately, because we're all Godless heathens, the dishonesty shouldn't be too great a problem. People, must I remind you? It's about moral relativism. The end justifies the means. If you're still confused by this, I suggest you read the Discovery Institute's famed Wedge document (PDF). It gives a great overview of the importance of setting aside one's morals for the long-term greater good.

And on that note, don't forget, Thursday is the second anniversary of Judge Jones' Dover decision in which intelligent design received such an outstanding pillorying. There remain only three more shopping days left until the holiday. For those still searching for a perfect gift for your children, may I suggest that Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto makes a great stocking stuffer?

Merry Kitzmas to all.

Lauri in York

War on Christmas 2007, more like a Skirmish on Christmas

Or maybe it's more like shadow boxing. Nevertheless, it does seem a bit quieter this year on this front. It probably helps that no Fox News anchor has a book to push on the topic, and certain television personalities realized that squawking over the alleged War on Christmas led certain media outlets to do some actual investigating reporting on the issue. Some people whither when exposed to the light.



This article was on the cover of The Patriot News on Sunday: "Greetings" issue cools but only a little bit

How fascinating that a Republican president, who was a retired general, changed the White House Christmas card to say "Season's Greetings," and in the midst of McCarthyism, no less.

This particularly caught my eye:

"But at work, we had a big, big discussion, all the supervisors, about what to put on our Christmas, er, holiday cards. And I was very persistent in 'happy holidays' because we have a lot of international clients," she said.

As has been discussed here before in reference to same sex partnerships, the business community tends to be out in front of the politicos and the squawking heads on these issues of embracing diversity.

Andy in H-burg