Stop asking retailers to celebrate Christmas.

• Position: Religion - Brief article

"How on Earth did we ever get the notion that we have a right to pressure commercial retailers into celebrating Christmas?" asks Bill Keller, the Internet Evangelist with more than 2,000,000 daily subscribers to his eVotions.

"In today's overly commercialized Christmas holiday season, it reminds me of a variation of the classic Tina Turner song, 'What's Christ got to do with it?' Didn't Jesus overturn the tables of the moneychangers and merchants when they attempted to conduct business on Church property? So, what makes us think Jesus would approve of our attempts to force merchants to conduct Church on commercial property?"

Keller says he wants to slaughter the "sacred cow" of commercial Christmas. "Please forgive me if I don't share the outrage of many Christians that department stores like Wal-Mart. Target. and rm sure others have quit saying 'Merry Christmas.' To be frank, I don't know why we expect a secular business to promote Christ when they have turned the celebration of his birth into a celebration of mammon! They don't exist to please the heart of God but...