With a President in the White House that at least values the input of traditionalists even if he does not always comport himself with the wisdom and humility derived from such, one would hope that they time had finally arrived for a respite from the culture wars that have been raged now for nearly a generation. However, a development in the state of Wisconsin reminds that these sorts of battles are never over and that the victories seemingly achieved one year can be reversed with a stroke of a pen the next.
In the Wisconsin State Capitol, Governor Tony Evers has erected what he is referring to as a “holiday tree”, defiantly reversing former Governor Scott Walker's principled stance to call the decoration by what nearly 99.9% of the population know it to be. That is, of course, a Christmas tree.
Yet in the current environment, it is not enough for there to be a linguistic detente with the nomenclature to be switched back and forth each time the governorship might changed party hands. For this Democratic governor must advance the ongoing assault against religious belief in general and Christianity in particular.
It is apparently not enough to decorate the disputed celebratory evergreen with the same sort of ornamentation irrespective of whether it will be called a holiday or Christmas tree with the beholding individuals to determine for themselves the symbolic meaning or lack thereof for striped candy canes, wreathes, stars, or even Santa Claus himself. With the severity of the White Witch in “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis or the Burgermesiter Meisteburger in “Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town” the Governor has decreed that the state tree will be (festooned) with ornaments crafted by pupils “that celebrate what science means to them, their families, and their communities.”
Mind you, this will no doubt mean science construed through the lens of a Democratic Party increasingly oriented towards socialistic radicalism. For example, it is doubtful that no ornaments will be allowed attesting to the undeniable fact that the unborn child in the mother's womb is indeed a distinct human life and no matter the extent to which an individual mutilates their body through reassignment surgery on the genetic level one remains the same sex since conception. It is just as doubtful that an ornament would be allowed attesting to the concept of irreducible complexity with the implications of that pointing the rational towards the conclusion of Intelligent Design.
Rather what is being called for here is affirmation of science so called that supports statist preconceptions in regards to environmentalism and global warming. The governor's proclamation regarding such decrees, “...clean water and natural resources, to sustainability and renewable energies..”
Wouldn't these banalities be more appropriately referenced in regards to Arbor or Earth Day? Even the press readily admits that this propaganda effort has been undertaken on behalf of the state's Department of Natural Resources to get back at the Walker administration for cutting positions in biology and ecology.
It must also be asked is Governor Evers ever consistent in undermining other holidays --- especially those precious to preferred demographics and faith communities --- for the purposes of advancing what are essentially glorified public service announcements?
For example, given the ceremonial emphasis one particular faith places on male genitalia, would the time surrounding what are referred to as that particular religion's high holy days or the celebration propped up in winter to prevent their youth from defecting to the other team be co-opted to emphasize prostate cancer awareness?
And everyone pretty much knows to leave one particular unmentioned religion and its attendant holidays alone altogether if one does not want to be scrapped off the sidewalk with a squeegee following a car bomb explosion.
Given the extent to which errant or deficient creeds must be venerated these days where tolerance is often enforced under threat of bodily harm, property destruction or financial ruination, why shouldn't celebrations primarily Christian in their origin or nature be granted a similar degree of respect in terms of the symbols for such placed in those spaces in large part provided by those professing belief in the particular religion under consideration?
For it is because of Christianity that the science the Wisconsin governor professes to value even exists in the first place as a systematized attempt to think God's thoughts after Him to the extent that we as mere human beings are capable.
By Frederick Meekins
