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The so-called war against Christmas is a serious issue and a fascinating one. But not only for the reasons we’ve been led to believe in the 21st century.

Even though we associate anti-Christmas warriors today mostly with atheists and, on occasion, militant members of minority religions, it turns out Christmas has been under attack for almost 2,000 years.

Most often from Christians.

The amazing range of controversies is spelled out in Canadian historian Gerry Bowler’s startling new book, Christmas in the Crosshairs: Two Thousand Years of Denouncing and Defending the World’s Most Celebrated Holiday(Oxford University Press).

With no shortage of humour, Bowler’s book (which sports a cover riddled with red bullet holes) explains that conflict is inevitable when anything grows into “the biggest single event on the planet.”

Even though that claim is hard to measure, it’s not crazy. The globe is home to about two billion Christmas-celebrating Christians, from Africa to the Arctic. And hundreds of millions of non-Christians enjoy Christmas as a secular holiday of red-and-green lights and gift giving.

“Is there a war on Christmas?” Bowler writes. “The answer is yes, and over the many centuries one or more assaults on the seasons have always been going on at any time. Christmas looms far too large in our moral, religious, economic and social landscapes for one to expect a tranquil uniformity of opinion.”