I am not offended, Sheriff Mike Jolley of Harris County if you wish to say Merry Christmas. Please, say it to your heart’s content. Have yourself a merry little Christmas, as the song goes. I suspect 99% of people in this country of ours have no problem with you saying Merry Christmas even in the middle of Summer if you should so desire.

Here’s some other things that do not offend me:

Feliz Navidad!
Happy Hannukah!

Sh’ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad!

Allahu Akbar!

Umoja! Kujichagulia! Ujima! Ujamaa! Nia! Kuumba! Imani!

Namaste’

Happy Holidays!

Sheriff Jolley, I don’t know where you got the idea that there are millions of godless heathens and commie liberals in America who hate the fact that you like to say Merry Christmas or God bless America or whatever. Most people I know, those who do not listen to conservatalk radio or watch Fox News all day, really don’t understand what generated all this hostility that so many “Christians” spew toward “non-believers” or secularists, atheists or followers of other faiths this time of year. Really, it makes no sense whatsoever.

The vast majority don’t care one way or another if you say Merry Christmas or sing Christmas Carols or salute the flag (provided it’s the flag of the United, and not the Confederate, States of America), or say “In God We Trust” 20 gazillion times a day. Yet, instead of celebrating the birth of the man you believe was sent by God to save all humankind, what I hear from so many so-called fervent believers in Christ are words of hatred, aggression and even violent threats against those of us who do not share your beliefs. For example, consider the words on the sign you paid for and placed in front of your office:

The sign reads “WARNING: Harris County is politically incorrect. We say: Merry Christmas, God Bless America and In God We Trust. We salute our troops and our flag. If this offends you…LEAVE!”

This doesn’t sound like someone who follows the teachings of Jesus. Instead it appears you have abandoned your faith and allowed yourself to be hoodwinked by a bunch of hate merchants who wish to divide the people of our country for their own benefit. Jesus never asked his followers to hate people, even the ones who despised them. Just look at the sayings attributed to him in the Gospels of the New testament if you doubt me.

Jesus said you should love your neighbor as yourself, and by neighbor he meant anyone, even scapegoated and ostracized minorities. Jesus said if someone strikes you you should turn the other cheek rather than strike them back. Jesus said that if someone takes your coat do not demand it back, but give them the shirt off your back as well. Jesus also told us to forgive those who hurt us or mean us harm. Most tellingly, Jesus warned us not to judge or condemn others when we have so many faults of our own to address:

Matthew 7:1-5 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

And yet, Sheriff Jolley, I know far too many self-professed Christians, such as yourself, who do not follow these principles and teachings of Jesus, the man you acknowledge as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Instead, what comes forth from your lips, and from the lips of all those who share your spirit of intolerance, are words of anger, of the absence of love and the presence of hatred toward those who are not like you and calls for violence and retribution. This is a long way from the message of love, peace and forgiveness preached by the man you worship as the Son of God.

Recently, Charisma magazine, a major media outlet for evangelical and Pentecostal Christians, published an open call to genocide. The article in question, titled “Why I Am Absolutely Islamaphobic” [sic] and written by Gary Cass, begins with the premise that “every true follower of Mohammed” wants to “subjugate and murder” non-Muslims, and therefore it’s impossible for Christians to live together peacefully with them.

Cass proposes three solutions to this problem. One is for Muslims to undergo mass conversion to Christianity; the other is mass deportation combined with eugenics – either “force them all to get sterilized” or kick them out of America “like Spain was forced to do when they deported the Muslim Moors.” But he says both of these plans are unlikely to work, so “really there’s only one” solution, which is:

Violence: The only thing that is biblical and that 1,400 years of history has shown to work is overwhelming Christian just war and overwhelming self defense.

Other “Christians” have called for the rule in America of “biblical law,” which they claim justifies the subjugation of women and the death sentence for homosexuality. Indeed, a group of American Christians worked to implement in Uganda and other countries, such as Nigeria, Russia, etc., laws criminalizing homosexuality.

Now, that kind of behavior, purportedly based on Christian beliefs and doctrines, does offend me, as it should offend any true follower of Jesus. In an election cycle where the leading presidential candidate for the Republican Party, Donald Trump, has been calling in effect for ethnic cleansing and actively encouraging racism against Blacks, Hispanics and Muslims among his his followers, as well as promising to bring back torture and whatever else he considers necessary to “make our nation great again,” I find it troubling that so many people, people like you Sheriff Jolley, are so adamant about encouraging a climate of hate and fear among your fellow Americans.

You see, Sheriff Jolley, despite what you may believe or may have been told, the United States was not founded as a Christian nation. There is nothing in the Constitution that refers to Christianity as the basis for our government. There is no religious test for holding public office, much less becoming a citizen. And while I’m not offended if you want to say “Merry Christmas,” “God Bless America” or whatever else you consider essential to being a good American, anyone who is offended by your sign or your statements does have the right under the First Amendment to express that opinion without fear that the Sheriff of Harris County, Georgia, might decide to treat them differently because they do not believe what he believes or act in the manner that he consider Americans should act.

Obviously, Sheriff Jolley, I do not know what was in your heart when you erected your sign on government property telling people that if they did not like your views they should get the hell out of your county. Perhaps you just wanted to blow off some steam. But whatever your reasons, it must have been apparent to you that your words would be taken as an implicit threat from an elected official and law enforcement official to anyone who does not condone or abide your view of what constitutes the only “American values” worth defending.

I’m not going to tell you, Sheriff Jolley, what to do with your sign. But I am going to suggest you go back and read your bible, since you claim to be a Christian. In particular, I recommend you study what Jesus said very carefully, because in my view, he would be appalled by your actions, and dismayed that you would use your faith in him to justify such a hateful and intolerant attitude regarding your fellow human beings.

Christmas should be a holiday that celebrates love and joy for all people on earth. It should be a time of year when the followers of Jesus reach out to those who are different from themselves to share that feeling of love and joy. It appears you would rather feed your own anger and the anger of others who feel the way you do, rather than extend a hand in love to all God’s children. That way, as the saying goes, lies madness.