Washington Post slammed for calling Trump officials' Christ-centered Christmas posts 'sectarian'

The Washington Post would probably prefer an atheistic world, in my opinion.

Michie said:

The Washington Post faced criticism for an article and X post last week that described Christmas messages from Trump administration officials as "sectarian" because they mentioned Jesus Christ as Savior.

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The term has become a negative one, primarily because of government officials trying to impose prayer on students in public schools and the like.

Michie said:

The Washington Post faced criticism for an article and X post last week that described Christmas messages from Trump administration officials as "sectarian" because they mentioned Jesus Christ as Savior.

"Officials in President Trump's administration posted overtly sectarian messages for Christmas, such as a day to celebrate the birth of 'our Savior Jesus Christ,'" the official X account on The Washington Post posted last Friday, a day after Christmas. "The messages sharply diverged from a tradition of secular holiday messages."

The article, written by Azi Paybarah, highlighted two social media posts commemorating Christmas — the holiday honoring the birth of Jesus Christ — from the official X accounts of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which twiceproclaimed "Christ is Born!" and "We are blessed to share a nation and a Savior."

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Washington Post slammed for calling Trump officials' Christ-centered Christmas posts 'sectarian'

The Washington Post faced criticism for an article and X post last week that described Christmas messages from Trump administration officials as sectarian because they mentioned Jesus Christ as

www.christianpost.com

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I just wish that they would act more like Jesus Christ. Living your faith is more important than just talking about your faith.

Yarddog said:

I just wish that they would act more like Jesus Christ. Living your faith is more important than just talking about your faith.

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It seems to often be a tribal thing with people who profess to be Christians. Which is ironic since or of the most important messages of Jesus was that everyone is our neighbor.

Okay, so I had to look this one up. It seems that Calvin Coolidge started the tradition. Here is the message, from 1927:

To the American People: — Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think of these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.

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Below is a link to excepts of some of Truman's Christmas addresses:

Holiday Addresses from Harry S. Truman

I found this one from George W. Bush:

Presidential Christmas Message

Note: Since there are Whitehouse archives, anyone with the time and inclination should be able to sift through it to find Christmas messages from other presidents, at least for the WWW era.

One (not Whitehouse archives) that I found for Obama was more secular. So was a Christmas card from Richard Nixon that I saw once. Note: I looked for more info on Nixon Christmas messages, but what I found was mostly excepts and other cards, so I don't know if he did or didn't include a more religious message, my point simply giving the most accurate account as possible. To my surprise, Jimmy Carter's 1977 Christmas message was also somewhat secular.

Note that the Washington Post claimed there was a long tradition of secular Christmas messages. This is pretty much what I've come to expect from "journalism," and has nothing to do with partisanship. Had a reporter did the same, brief, web search I've just done, they would have found Coolidge and Truman's Christmas message and addresses.

These sectarian messages generally fall into the category of "de minimus" violations of the First Amendment. This is why the SCOTUS allows "In God We Trust" to be placed on U.S. currency. The court observed that people are accustomed to it, and it has no meaning for almost everyone. This, I think, is why (as James Madison observed) official support of religion is so damaging to any religion so supported.