A CHRISTMAS EVE STORY – AT 11:57 A.M. ET:  Many people justly complain about the exploitation of Christmas for non-religious purposes, diminishing the true meaning of the holiday.

The worst exploitation I've seen does not come from commercial sources, but from governments that send out Christmas greetings while terrifying their own Christian populations.  From the Algemeiner:

Iran’s foreign minister encountered an angry response on Sunday when he took to Twitter on Christmas Eve to wish a “happy and peaceful Christmas to all.”

Citing a verse from the Quran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif – a key architect, with former US Secretary of State John Kerry, of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal – declared: “May Christ’s universal message of peace be embraced in the coming year.”

Dozens of responses to Zarif’s message emphasized Iran’s long record of persecuting Christians.

Many of them highlighted the arrest of four Iranian converts to Christianity in the city of Karaj on December 12.

According to Article 18, an organization that advocates on behalf of persecuted Christians in Iran, “Milad Goudarzi, Amin Khaki, Alireza Nour-Mohammadi and Shehabuddin Shahi were all arrested by security forces on Tuesday, December 12, in Karaj.” Six houses used by the converts as a church were also reported to have been raided by the Iranian regime’s security forces.

Iranian Christian news outlet Mohabat News reported in addition that security forces raided two shops belonging to two of the detainees.

The shops were sealed off for “overcharging”, “profiteering” and “breaking guild regulations.” A Bible and a laptop computer were also confiscated.

IRNA, the Iranian regime’s official mouthpiece reported that “elements of a devious Christian cult who were promoting it and attempting to disrupt the market and economic order have been arrested.”

Iranian official figures show that more than 100,000 Christians live in Iran, although some Christian organizations believe the number could be 270,000 or even more. While traditional ethnic churches, such as the Armenian church, are generally tolerated, evangelical Christians and converts are brutally treated by the authorities. Under Iranian law, converting from Islam to another faith is a crime that can carry the death penalty.

COMMENT:  And Merry Christmas to you, Mr. Foreign Minister.  But from now on please restrict your greetings to your pal, John Kerry.

December 24,  2017