James Inhofe is a religious bigot

I read a report that Senator James Inhofe (reputed to be one of the stupider members of the U.S. Senate) has announced that he will refuse to participate in Tulsa's parade this season because the City of Tulsa insists on calling it a "Holiday" Parade rather than a "Christmas" Parade.  I can only assume that Inhofe believes that this parad is only for the Christians in the City and that Jews, Moslems, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, etc. are not welcome to participate.

Reading the comments on websites when this issue surfaces every year is an eye-opener.  The typical anti-"holiday" comment accuses the pro-"holiday" side of being "haters" or "politically correct".  Neither is really accurate.

Let's remember that the "Happy Holidays" movement started at major retail stores, such as Wal-Mart, the Gap, etc.  Since their real religion is sales and profits, quite understandably, they didn't want to offend potential customers who weren't Christian (yes, there are non-Christians in this country, Inhofe) or make them feel excluded from their advertising/marketing campaigns.  Thus, instead of referring to Christmas, they refer to "Holidays", and everyone can feel included in the sentiment.  Government, at all levels, thought this was a good idea and adopted the "Happy Holidays" approach to the Christmas season (yes, that's what I still call it, even though I'm Jewish). 

This seemed totally innocuous, but then Bill O'Reilly, that permanently aggrieved soul, got hold of the issue and decided to call it a "war" on Christmas. O'Reilly's argument was, since 80% of the country is Christian, the rest of us should just learn to live with it.  (By extension, I guess O'Reilly thinks I should start attending church on Sundays.)

Of course, this is as phony a "war" as there is.  Those of us who appreciatethe inclusiveness of the gesture of using the term "holidays" in the public sphere don't "hate" Christians or Christmas.  If my favorite store put a "Merry Christmas" sign in the window instead of a "Happy Holidays" sign, I wouldn't refuse to go in; I don't much care and I long ago accepted my minority status in this country.  (On the other hand, if I knew that the store put up the Christmas sign as some sort of deliberate, political rejection of the "Happy Holidays" inclusive sentiment, I would be offended and might consider not patronizing that store.)

The suggestion made by some this time last year that stores that use "holidays" instead of "Christmas" be boycotted was asinine, as well as highly offensive and, dare I say, totally inconsistent with the spirit that is supposed to be a part of this Christian holiday.  Let's hope this isn't repeated this year.

As a number of people have commented every year when this issue arises, why is it that certain members of the dominant religious and cultural group in this country feel so aggrieved and threatened by this modest gesture of universality and inclusiveness?  How did the Inhofes and O'Reilly's become so paranoid and defensive about their religious identity that they feel it necessary to constantly remind us non-Christians that it's their country.