Letters: ‘War on Christmas’ isn’t worth a fight

Last week, Bill O’Reilly claimed that the War on Christmas was over and that his side had won. Donald Trump proclaimed in a speech last Tuesday, “We are going to say ‘Merry Christmas’ again!”

I have always questioned why Christians would mobilize to fight this War on Christmas to begin with. I can find nothing in my copy of the Bible about Jesus’ opinions on department store holiday displays and cash register pleasantries. In fact, Jesus’ one brush with the world of retail in the Gospel comes in his only angry moment, when he expels the merchants from the temple with a whip.

In any case, for Catholics like me and Bill O’Reilly, as well as for Presbyterians like Donald Trump, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Methodists, Lutherans, and many other Christians, the period of time that the retail world hails as Christmas is actually Advent (Christmas begins on Dec. 25 and lasts for about two weeks after that).

Advent is a time of quiet, prayerful reflection when we ready our hearts and souls for the celebration of Christmas. The Bible readings during Advent remind us not to get too caught up in the comings and goings of this world because we need to keep our focus on what will happen to us in the next. I have to wonder whether the people staging boycotts over insufficiently Christmassy Starbucks cups were listening to these readings.

Come to think of it, I also wonder if these people have listened to the Bible readings for the Christmas season that they so ardently defend, which tell of God on Earth in the unlikely guise of a carpenter’s infant son, the poor people (shepherds) and foreigners (wise men) who are the first to come to worship Jesus, and King Herod who, even though he was a powerful man known for his impressive building projects across Judea, felt so threatened by the presence of the newborn Christ that he forced the Holy Family to flee their homeland and live as refugees.

Nora Malone, Logan Square

Conflict of interest

If Donald Trump doesn’t divest from both his foreign and domestic business interests, he is in violation of the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution. Even though he’s tried to hide his far-flung business empire, some in Russia, by refusing to release his tax returns unlike every other president, he can’t escape the founding father’s desire to avoid conflict of interest.

And, Trump directing his children to run his billion-dollar empire doesn’t remove the conflict. He has to divest, which, so far, he is refusing to do. After all, he’s The Donald, where the rules and the truth don’t don’t seem to apply!

So, when Trump takes office, Democrats and Republicans who have the backbone to support the Constitution (they constantly refer to Second Amendment rights) should impeach him. If Trump is more interested in making money with his billionaire pals, refuses to actually divest from his business interests and blatantly violates the constitution, he should be impeached!

Tom Minnerick, Elgin

Great legacy

President Barack Obama has legally used the law to protect marine mammals and ecological resources in the Atlantic and the Arctic oceans to protect wildlife and nature from incoming President-elect Donald Trump’s destructive environmental policies. Obama has a great legacy in reference to combating global warming, conserving creatures of the lands and the seas and making the planet more green and pristine. Let’s hope that these laudable endeavors will actualize permanently.

Brien Comerford, Glenview