Why does President Bush hate Christmas?

America's Christmas Warriors are apoplectic over the official White House Holiday Card. That's right, "holiday card."

President Bush is sending out cards wishing friends and supporters a "happy holiday season."

The Washington Post reports that the card bears "a generic season's greeting from the White House, paid for by the Republican National Committee. The cover art is also secular, if not humanist: It shows the presidential pets -- two dogs and a cat -- frolicking on a snowy White House lawn."

Many people are thrilled to get a White House Christmas card, no matter what the greeting inside. But some conservative Christians are reacting as if Bush stuck coal in their stockings.

"This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Bush "claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn't act like one," said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com. "I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it."

I have news for Mr. Farah. Not only does George W. Bush not act like an evangelical Christian, he doesn't claim to be one. He identifies himself as a Methodist.

In fact, the closest that Bush has come to identifying Jesus publicly as the Lord of his life is when he said that Christ was his favorite political philosopher because "He changed my heart."

How many such lessons will evangelicals need to learn before they finally get it?

Bush is perfectly happy during campaign season to pay lip service to the things that get conservative Christians riled up. He won't hesitate to exploit their anti-abortion, anti-gay passions for a few more electoral points.

Every other time of the year, including the holiday season, he clearly would rather not be bothered.