The War on Christmas waged by Christians part 2

Rampant, secularist commercialism is destroying Christmas, rage prominent Christians in the media. Did I read it in World Net Daily? Was it Pat Robertson on The 700 Club? Are they talking about the latest challenge to publicly displayed Creches by unfeeling Atheist Scrooges? Think again.

A Christmas Carol without Christ

The Carol was first published in a time of great religious controversy, and its absence of babes, wisemen,
stars, mangers and other icons* of the Chritsian Nativity inspired a multitude of sermons and pamphlets. Some religious leaders believed that any story fo Christmas without references to the birth of Jesus was self-indulgent and un-christian, and that the ritualistic celebrations in the story were pagan and sinful.

Although A Christmas Carol is generally associated with the Christian holiday season, for it does contain references to the Christian Jesus, its themes are not exclusive to Christianity and it inspired a tradition for decades in Christmas books and celebrations that appealed to many non-christians.

In other words, the traditional, seemingly meaningful (non-commercial) christmas of Dickens (published in magazines because Dickens was broke) was thought to be crass and heretical. This story was part of a general campaign to bring back Ye Olde Christmas which went out of favour in England after the Cromwellian Recolt in the mid 17th-century abolished it.

* The manger, wisemen, star, Frankincense and myrrh were elements of the birth of Mithra, a much older god than Jesus.