Garrison Keilor’s rant

If you thought that Garrison Keilor was simply a homespun humorist and the host of the long running radio show, “The Prairie Home Companion,” think again. It seems Keilor may also harbor a disturbing hostility toward Jews.

In a Baltimore Sun op-ed , “Nonbelievers, please leave Christmas alone,” Keilor attacks the Unitarian Church for rewriting the traditional lyrics of “Silent Night” to reflect the Unitarian bent toward generic spirituality rather than specifically Christian theology. He tells the Unitarians, “If you don’t believe Jesus was G-d, OK, go write your own damn ‘Silent Night’ and leave ours alone.”

Besides starting up with the Unitarians, Keilor drags some innocent bystanders — the Jews — into his rant:

“This is spiritual and cultural elitism, and we Christians have stood for it long enough. And all those lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys that trash up the malls every year, Rudolf and the chestnuts and the rest of that dreck. Did one of our guys write ‘Grab your loafers, come along if you wanna, and we’ll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah?’ No, we didn’t. Christmas is a Christian holiday – and if you’re not in the club, then buzz off.”

Buzz off? Who buzzed in?

Non-religious Christmas-season songs written by Jews — including “White Christmas,” by Irving Berlin; “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer,” by Johnny Marks; “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn; “Silver Bells,” by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans; “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” by Albert Hague and Dr. Seuss (who was actually a Lutheran) — are simply offerings from talented people to their Christmas-observing friends and neighbors at an important time of the year for them.

These songs were also probably attempts by Jewish composers to be accepted into American society. They held to their Jewish beliefs by not writing songs about the Christian deity, but neither did they disdain or otherwise degrade Christianity per se. They wrote about the non-spiritual trappings of the season. In case Garrison Keilor didn’t notice, these are among the most popular songs among Christians in the holiday season.

Regarding Keilor’s line about a non-Jew writing a song about a Jewish holiday: That would be OK. In fact, Orrin Hatch, the Republican Mormon senator from Utah, lovingly wrote a Chanukah song, “Eight Days of Hanukkah.” As Hatch told the New York Times:

“Anything I can do for the Jewish people, I will do. Mormons believe the Jewish people are the chosen people, just like the Old Testament.”

It does not sound like Keilor’s tirade was tongue-in-cheek. But just in case it was, Keilor needs to know that there are enough real anti-Semites out there without making readers wonder whether he is another one. And if it’s not a joke, then we’ve got a different problem on our hands. Abe Foxman, take it away.