Tis the season for my favorite War on Christmas smackdown

[Proud Public Servant]

I love this Harold Meyerson column from 2005, celebrating the historically secular nature of American Christmas (thanks to its central figure, Jewish immigrant songwriter and "White Christmas" composer Irving Berlin). Read the whole thing, but here's the heart of it:

Berlin kept Christmas in the public square and, more than anyone before or since, sent it out over the public airwaves. But it was an American, not a Christian, Christmas. And by the crass index of number of recordings sold, and the not-so-crass index of number of spirits touched, Berlin's nonsectarian holiday has been the predominant version of Christmas in this country for the past 60 years.

So whether you're listening to "White Christmas," "Blue Christmas," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Frosty the Snowman," "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," "Here Comes Santa Claus," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," "Jingle Bells," "Jingle Bell Rock," "Sleigh Ride," "Winter Wonderland," or any of the other many, many great American carols that are in no way Christian -- you have yourself, a Merry, Secular, Democratic, Inclusive Christmas!