The Human Rights Commission’s moronic attack on Christmas

by Conrad Black

It is illustrative of the nonsense that now chronically afflicts our country and much of the Western world that the Canadian Human Rights Commission recently reported that statutory holidays for Christian celebrations, including Christmas, are “a form of discrimination” that is “deeply rooted in our identity as a settler colonialism state.” It is more accurate to say that the Human Rights Commission is a form of idiocy deeply rooted in our woke, politically correct foolishness.

The implication is the theory that the more extreme indigenous spokespeople are creeping up on, that the “settler-colonists” were invaders doing to the natives of Canada what Hitler and Stalin did to Poland. This is one of the initiatives in “a war on a Christmas,” a campaign for total secularization of all public life by a fusion of forces of atheism, anti-atheism, and of all those in revolt against any public, cultural or sectarian references to the Judeo-Christian heritage of our society. Of course, there is nothing remotely discriminatory about Christmas, as the birthday of the person traditionally recognized to be the only son of the Judeo-Christian God, in a time when monotheists were a small minority, a tradition of 2000 years that is now a holiday for all, and an occasion for the exchange of gifts and cordial greetings among all of society, as well as the renewal of religious faith for the majority of more than two billion Christians in the world. The theme, as everyone except the morons on the Human Rights Commission is aware, is peace on earth and goodwill toward everyone.

What is discriminatory is violation of the prevalent concept in the Western world for several centuries, of a freedom of religious belief and practice, including those who commit the greatest act of faith of all and deny and disparage any spiritual forces, divine intelligence, or anything that transcends the world we know. This would enable a small minority to gag, stifle, and spiritually oppress the great majority of Canadians. It would be a monstrous act of discrimination, contemptibly disguised as a crusade against discrimination. No one in Canada who attaches a scintilla of credence to Christianity or anything related to Christmas seeks to coerce those who do not share their beliefs into observing Christmas.

It is a notorious fact that there have been many attempts in human history since the first Christmas 2024 years ago to outlaw Christmas and to persecute those who would celebrate it. No remotely receivable argument has ever been made or ever could be made to try to suppress that freedom. No sane Christian would ever try to enforce religious practice upon any adult. But Christianity does not enjoy reciprocity in these matters, and it is precisely the timeless indestructibility of that faith, or at least of its tradition, spontaneously in the minds of many hundreds of millions of people, that makes these claims of the Canadian Human Rights Commission unutterably stupid and an outrage against the beliefs and liberties of the majority of Canadians. This Commission has itself, become a battering ram being hurled against the rights and beliefs of the solid majority of Western Civilization for more than 1500 years, and will be no more successful than those who have undertaken the same maliciously quixotic mission over many prior centuries.

In practice, in contemporary times, such suggestions are usually made on behalf of Muslim organizations, as Dr. Peter Hammond alleges in his book cited last week in this space, ‘Slavery, Terrorism, and Islam.’ When Muslims are less than around two per cent of a country’s population, Hammond argues, they are generally peaceable and not a threat to institutions and practices. This is the case in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, Italy, and Norway. As the Muslim population grows, so do demands for accommodation beyond what would normally be acceptable, such as request the applicability of sharia law in places. As the population grows further still, any non-Muslim action can be declared to be offensive to justify unreasonable reactions and even violence. For countries with majority Muslim populations, the persecution of non-believing “infidels” rises, as does the threat of terrorist attacks.

None of any of this is going to happen in Canada, but it should be noted that the organization chiefly discharging the mission to assure the freedoms and liberties of Canadians has adopted this Christmas season, the position that Christmas is oppressive, and must be abolished in a manner which elsewhere in the contemporary Western world, supports, precisely those religious and cultural forces, most implacably opposed to peace on earth and goodwill among men. Canada needs immigration to populate this large country, develop a distinctive national character, and exploit its resources responsibly (and cease to be ashamed of them). And instead of being ashamed of our admirable and enterprising pioneering origins, we should assure that those we admit to residency and citizenship accept and will not seek to overturn our institutions and will respect our liberties in the same measure that they enjoy them themselves.

As I wrote here last week, we must be both vigilant and tolerant. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all, including the misguided boobs in the Human Rights Commission.

First published in the National Post.