I'm willing to bet that President Barack Obama's Christmas address this week will shine with a religious significance that's about as bright as what was in his unusually short Thanksgiving proclamation, which gave a token reference to God via a quote from George Washington.
Even in the Obamas' superstar Christmas interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Gloria Estefan, there were discussions about Santa Claus, Christmas trees, ornaments, gingerbread houses and even their dog's Christmas stocking. Obama even gave a Christmas shout-out to all Hispanics. But there was not one mention of religion or a hint of the real reason for the season.
Gone are the days when presidents and most politicians publicly rejoiced in the birth of Christ. Like many of you, I still remember a day -- even in Washington -- when Christ was central to Christmas. It was an America that was far less politically correct, an America that wasn't afraid to stand up for its belief in the babe who was born in Bethlehem.
Besides Obama, even our modern Democratic presidents have stood up for America's Judeo-Christian heritage and the true meaning of Christmas. Here's a small sample. (If you're interested in more, I encourage you to go to the exclusive expanded edition of this same article at WorldNetDaily, which documents more than a dozen of our other presidents' Christmas confessions and festivities, from George Washington through George W. Bush.)
It's well-known that President John Kennedy was a Catholic. What's not so well-known is that in 1957, then-Sen. Kennedy disclosed at a National Conference of Christians and Jews dinner what he believed was the remedy to the ills in society: "Upon what can we rely? Where can we compete? In what can we find hope for the future? The answer, I believe, lies ultimately in the very principles which we honor tonight -- the principles of our Judaic-Christian heritage."
President Lyndon B. Johnson publicly declared on Dec. 22, 1963: "We were taught by him whose birth we commemorate that after death, there is life. ... In these last 200 years, we have guided the building of our nation and our society by those principles and precepts brought to earth nearly 2,000 years ago on that first Christmas."
President Jimmy Carter spoke to the nation Dec. 15, 1977: "Christmas has a special meaning for those of us who ... know that almost 2,000 years ago, the Son of Peace was born to give us a vision of perfection, a vision of humility, a vision of unselfishness, a vision of compassion, a vision of love."
President Bill Clinton addressed the nation Dec. 21, 1999, with these words: "St. Matthew's Gospel tells us that on the first Christmas 2,000 years ago, a bright star shone vividly in the eastern sky, heralding the birth of Jesus and the beginning of his hallowed mission as teacher, healer, servant and savior."
Will President Obama's Christmas address rival those Christian confessions of past presidents? Will it even reflect them at all? Or will his yuletide cheer be another politically correct concoction, adding to the ones that already have adorned the first year of his presidency?
Unlike all preceding presidents, President Obama has denied America's rich Judeo-Christian heritage before the eyes and ears of other countries, as he publicly declared in Turkey on April 6 for the whole world to hear: "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation."
Who are the "we" to whom Obama refers? Consider how his statement smacks against the former presidents' statements above. The truth is that every time President Obama has had an opportunity to stand up for Christianity in any way, he has not only denied it but also disdained it.
Even during his presidential campaign, Obama sarcastically belittled America's Judeo-Christian heritage and degraded its adherents with trite remarks typical of any atheistic antagonist. For example: "Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation"; "the dangers of sectarianism are greater than ever"; "religion doesn't allow for compromise"; "the Sermon on the Mount (is) a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application"; and "to base our policymaking on such commitments (as moral absolutes) would be a dangerous thing." (See the YouTube video "Barack Obama On The Importance Of A Secular Government.")
And yet over the past year, President Obama has sympathized and supported Muslims and Islamic theology, practice and culture. He even has defended domestic terrorism, by encouraging Americans "not to jump to conclusions" about the Fort Hood shooter's being a Muslim extremist. And Obama refused to say anything against jihadist and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when, on Dec. 7, he publicly accused the U.S. of actively planning and plotting to stop mankind's real savior: "(The U.S. has) devised all these plans to prevent the coming of the Hidden Imam because they know that the Iranian nation is the one that will prepare the grounds for his coming and will be the supporters of his rule."
A most grave manifestation of our president's secular legislation is Obamacare's incorporation to use federal funds to pay for abortion and thereby step on and force people of conscience who are pro-life to pay via their taxes for the terminations of life in the womb across the country. (What a tragedy to pass such legislation in the shadow of the day when we celebrate the birth of the world's savior, Jesus Christ.)
What President Obama, like many other far-left politicians, needs is a paradigm shift -- a new way of seeing America, which is really an old way. It's the way our Founders viewed America, and it incorporates a good ol'-fashioned Christmas proclamation of Christ's birth. That America is the one I outline in the new (January 2010) paperback expansion of my New York Times best-seller "Black Belt Patriotism," which is ironically the same Christmas gift I'm sending to the president!
There is also one gift that I propose the president give this nation. Seeing as Obama prides himself on being the technological president, in lieu of his Christmas proclamation this year, I suggest that he just send out across the nation the online link to a YouTube video that I had posted under the title "Ronald Reagan Christmas address (12/23/81)."