Let's Keep Herod in Christmas

There’s one figure from the biblical narrative we rarely see portrayed in a children's Christmas pageant: King Herod. He's just too mean and nasty for that holy night.

Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.

—Matthew 2:13b

You probably started to see the bumper stickers a month or so ago, as Advent was beginning: "Let's keep Christ in Christmas!"

It's a popular slogan, glimpsed on many a bumper or billboard. Certain politicians also have their own variant, as they champion legislation encouraging store clerks to say "Merry Christmas" rather than "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays."

"Yes, let's enjoy Santa, Frosty the Snowman and all the other second-tier Christmas characters," is their advice. "But let's never forget the true reason for the season: the birth of Jesus Christ."

Who could argue with that?

Do any of us really think, though, there's a danger of losing Jesus amidst the wrapping paper and the wreaths? Really?

Sure, a huge, commercial holiday has just rolled over us. The retail juggernaut has little to do with the babe in...