No commentary today, just links.

Christmas expression opinions:

• Tree expression | It's an unfortunate irony that a season meant to promote peace, empathy and unity so often leads to anger and insult (Editorial, The Indianapolis Star)
  
  
• Don't mention the c word | With depressing predictability, Tessa Jowell's Department of Culture, Media and Sport is sending out cards this year without mentioning the dreaded C-word (Richard Littlejohn, The Sun, U.K.)
  
  
• Merry at Christmas, and proud | This world, it seems, has gone overboard with being politically correct (Editorial, Toronto Star)
  
  
• Like it or not, this country is a Christian one | Where is the proof that people feel "excluded" by the use of Christian terminology in Britain, any more than I feel excluded by Diwali or Ramadan if I am abroad? (Katie Grant, The Scotsman)
  
  
• At library, Jesus was too graphic for walls | Boiled down, Jesus was a victim of his own celebrity (Helen Ubiñas, The Hartford Courant, Conn.)
  
  

The Christmas spirit:

• Religion leads to a merrier Christmas | Those who keep their religious practices intact at yuletide, the study found, are happier than those who rely on the pleasures of shopping for their holiday meaning. (Washington Times)
  
  
• Religion is prime mover for giving | Nonprofits seek attention of young (The Commercial Appeal, Memphis)
  
  
• Thinking outside the gift box | From livestock to aid, givers pick 'alternative' presents for the world's needy (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Christians respond to world hunger | Last March farmers in the Wellsburg area were asked to do just that … to donate some of their land, either what they owned or what they rented, and give the proceeds to an organization called Food Resource Bank. (Iowa Falls Times Citizen)
  
  
• Mideast initiative pushes beyond platitudes | Given the range in this group and some very real theological and political divisions among the members, the statement on Tuesday was remarkably specific and substantive (Peter Steinfels, The New York Times)