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dragging this story out of the crypts in honor of the war-on-Christmas spirit so lustily displayed by the would-be Calvinist theocrats of the 16th Century - ed]
As Talk To Action writer Frederick Clarkson observes, proclamations from Bill O'Reilly, claiming the existence of a leftist assault on Christmas, are "part of a transcendent politics of the Religious Right, and a variant of that old time McCarthism -- baiting everyone with whom they disagree as advocating a 'godless' agenda." Indeed, Billy James Hargis' Christian Crusade was making the same charges back in 1960 and much earlier in the year - in July in fact.
But how did the "War on Christmas", as a concept, originate ?
As it happens, once upon a time there was a real "War on Christmas" and it was initiated by the theocratic Christian right of its day, Swiss Calvinists and Scottish Presbyterians. Here's a short overview:
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