The Freedom of Christmas

Ken Buck
Tue, 23 Dec 2025 14:42:50 -0800
Opinion

This week Americans from all walks of life and every corner of our country will gather around a warm fireplace, drink hot cocoa with a candy cane, sing hymns and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. For many of us, these traditions — to freely assemble and express our faith, whatever form it takes — are so innate that we take them for granted. We shouldn't.

The United States is founded on the bold conviction that individuals should be able to exercise their religious beliefs — not only free of the government's retribution but protected by their government. This notion of religious freedom was so sacrosanct that the Founders wrote it into the First Amendment, and it continues to serve as a cornerstone of personal liberty that makes our country a symbol of hope for people around the world.

Across the world, individuals living under repressive regimes don't enjoy the same freedom. The simple act of prayer could lead to imprisonment. Owning a Bible or Torah is outlawed. Churches must congregate in secret for fear of punishment or even death. Even basic acts of faith take great courage and conviction.
Updated: Wed Dec 24, 2025

This week Americans from all walks of life and every corner of our country will gather around a warm fireplace, drink hot cocoa with a candy cane, sing hymns and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. For many of us, these traditions — to freely assemble and express our faith, whatever form it takes — are so innate that we take them for granted. We shouldn't.

The United States is founded on the bold conviction that individuals should be able to exercise their religious beliefs — not only free of the government's retribution but protected by their government. This notion of religious freedom was so sacrosanct that the Founders wrote it into the First Amendment, and it continues to serve as a cornerstone of personal liberty that makes our country a symbol of hope for people around the world.

Across the world, individuals living under repressive regimes don't enjoy the same freedom. The simple act of prayer could lead to imprisonment. Owning a Bible or Torah is outlawed. Churches must congregate in secret for fear of punishment or even death. Even basic acts of faith take great courage and conviction.

In Russia-occupied Ukraine, soldiers shut down churches that, as one reporter put it, "don't fit the world Vladimir Putin wants to build." Russian police detain, torture and "reeducate" religious leaders. The government converts places of worship into its so-called Ministry of Culture, propagating Putin's projection of power.

To the east, the Chinese Communist Party — what's been called the "largest perpetrator of religious persecution in the world" — has defiantly persecuted religious leaders, including the Falun Gong, Uyghur Muslims and Christians. And while outrage over the recent arrest of pastor Ezra Jin Mingri may have given the CCP pause, it continues to employ every lever of society to eradicate faith.

Former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, who served as ambassador for international religious freedom during President Donald Trump's first term, testified recently: "China is at war with faith." And it is a battle to maintain its suppressive control of its citizens.

Religious intolerance and violence is occurring all over the globe. Thousands of Christians have been slaughtered by jihadists in Nigeria. Fifteen Jews were recently murdered at a Hannukah celebration at an Australian beach.

Authoritarians know that the freedom of religion threatens their power — which is the alter they worship at. Faith in a higher power fundamentally undermines their authority, and they are working hard to snuff it out.

It may be easy to consider these attacks on faith as some far-off phenomenon — something that could never happen here. But in truth, our religious liberties — and religious tolerance — are under attack. It's happening not in church raids or kidnappings but rather through the slow erosion of protections meant to uphold this fundamental freedom.

Compelled by the poles of its party, the left has quietly waged a war on religion. Their aim is to undermine the traditional values that virtually all forms of religion espouse and thereby further advance their liberal agenda — and, by extension, their control.

Under former President Joe Biden, college campuses were ravaged by antisemitism. His Department of Education singled out Christian colleges, revoked longstanding religious protections, and prodded teachers to discourage school prayer.

It's no surprise that in 2024 most college students were not comfortable expressing their political and religious views, or that two out of three said they self-censored.

Democrats' subservience to woke culture didn't produce the kumbaya unity they promised; it emboldened hate-fueled attacks, both figurative and literal, on faith and the freedom to exercise it. The recent spate of senseless violence against religious groups gives a solemn reminder to the real consequences that political rhetoric creates.

Yet, not unlike oppressive regimes, the radical left understands that religious freedom is a threat to their end goal. Most faiths teach tolerance, personal responsibility and common-sense values, and those do not comport with their rigid ideology — which, under the facade of acceptance, preaches adherence to its cultural tenets.

As families and friends reunite over the holidays, it is worth considering how blessed we are to enjoy the freedoms that allow us to celebrate our faith — and to remember how fragile those are. Our Founders envisioned a country where people of all religions could freely express their religious views. It is on us to uphold those rights.