Commentary: An ironic ending to ACLU Christmas card drive

During the first week of December I received an e-mail urging me to send a Christmas card, one especially with religious overtones, to the New York headquarters of the American Civil Liberties Union, a national organization that advocates individual rights.

The plan was for the public to flood the organization that has been accused of launching a "war on Christmas" with mail. It was reasoned that that mail would have to be opened because there would be no way for the staff to know if the mailings contained contributions or not. The detractors allege that the expression "Happy Holidays," instead of "Merry Christmas" - especially invoked by store clerks - was the ACLU's brainchild.

I didn't save the original e-mail and can't recall who or what group was behind it. But I'm sure it wasn't the only one of its type by a long shot..

When I researched ACLU Christmas on Google I found numerous posts reflecting, in harsh terms, negative attitudes about the organization. One writer labeled it "the most successful of old school communist fronts ... virulently, hatefully anti-Christian."

Others bragged about sending large amounts of Christmas cards to the ACLU's headquarters.

The issue piqued my interest, so I e-mailed Lee Rowland, northern coordinator for the ACLU of Nevada.

"Far from engaging in a war on Christmas," wrote Rowland, "the ACLU is one of the few organizations that works consistently to protect private religious expression. This of course includes the right to celebrate Christmas - and indeed, to proclaim one's faith in Jesus Christ on December 25th and every other day of the year."

"The ACLU is dedicated to protecting the rights of ALL Americans to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and other religious holidays, or to celebrate nothing at all," she wrote.

Rowland noted that the ACLU's responsibility, under the First Amendment, is to ensure that government "does not promote particular religious beliefs and practices to the exclusion of others - now or at any time of the year."

Rowland said that because of "widespread publicity about the fictional 'war on Christmas,' many ACLU offices receive dozens of Christmas cards each year, frequently with rather aggressive messages indicating that the senders believe these cards are unwelcome."

Nothing could be further from the truth, wrote Rowland, noting that her office's Christmas card collection "is displayed proudly facing our door where they brighten us up for the holiday season."

"The private religious expression found on each of those cards exemplifies the First Amendment freedoms we stand up for every day, and we are proud to receive and display them," said Rowland.

• Sue Morrow is a longtime journalist and member of the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame. She may be reached at soozymor

row@yahoo.com.