Keller @ Large: De-Escalation In War On Christmas?

BOSTON (CBS) - The holiday season is now in full swing, with plenty of goodwill and tidings of joy, along with other familiar sounds of the season – anger, bitterness and finger-pointing.

Holiday time means the annual renewal of the war over the "War on Christmas," the title given to the contemporary phenomenon of insistence on avoiding the word "Christmas" in a well-meaning but misguided attempt to respect religious diversity and secular sensitivities.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

I first realized just how disrespectful this practice really was years ago when I attended my sons' elementary school "holiday concert," which included songs celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the winter solstice – everything but, you guessed it, the birth of the Christ child.

Many of my Christian neighbors felt excluded and upset, and I don't blame them.

Since then, spats over holiday political correctness have become a nasty staple of the season, one that spans party lines.

A lefty professor from Skidmore College sent me an essay decrying the commercialization of the holiday and claiming "it's not government that is attacking Christmas. It is the market."

Ho ho ho!

But off in the distance, is that a glimmer of hope for relief from this seasonal disorder?

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chaffee, who infuriated most of his constituents by insisting on calling the State House Christmas tree a "holiday tree," has reconsidered, and will now call it what it is.

Could this be a cultural turning point?

We'll see.

In the meantime, let's call Chaffee's de-escalation of this unwelcome war an early Christmas present, no matter what religion we practice.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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