‘Goodwill to all men,’ should be more than a saying - By Esther J. Cepeda, National columnist

Found here. My comments in bold.
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Astonishingly, this person is a syndicated writer. That is, she is (or supposed to be) a wordsmith, in the business of crafting essays that clarify, elucidate, and explain. Or, that's what we would expect.

But in actual fact, the author doesn't explain, she obfuscates in service to her political ideology. She doesn't get a single thing correct. She cannot even connect facts together, let alone put together a logical, coherent procession of ideas.
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CHICAGO — It’s shocking that in an increasingly secular country, those who complain that Christmas is too commercialized and not Christian enough are almost always the same people who seem (weasel word)

to lack a shred of humanity for people who are suffering. (A glaring generalization, with no documentation provided.)

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson (Subject change. And by the way, do we even know Carlson is a Christian?)

recently bemoaned “progressive attacks on Christmas,” fretting that someday the only politically correct label for a snowman will be “snow person.”

Clearly, Carlson believes that the snow people of the world are more deserving of his sympathy than the migrants who are sheltering at the U.S.-Mexico border. ("Clearly?" The author has a penchant for making isolated statements without offering any documentation.)

Last week, just days after the Department of Homeland Security released a statement affirming that a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl named Jakelin Caal Maquin died in custody of Border Patrol agents — her father alleges that they were both denied water while in custody at a remote area at the New Mexico border — Carlson defended comments he made about immigrants making “our own country poorer, and dirtier, and more divided.” (Non sequitur. There is no connection between the unfortunate death of a child and Carlson's comments.)

I’m not picking on Carlson (I don’t actually need to, many of his top sponsors are pulling their ads from his show), he’s merely emblematic of the heartless way many people who call themselves Christians talk about immigrants. (I'm sure the author will document this claim as well.)

There’s no end to the reader mail I receive that uses sickening, derogatory terms to describe unlawfully present immigrants, blames them for their own rapes or deaths at the hands of coyotes or overzealous border patrol agents, and then claims they hope God blesses me. (I don't believe her. I don't believe she's accurately characterizing the comments she receives. I don't believe that people say hateful things then offer to bless her. I don't believe she even receives many comments about this. 

I don't believe her.)

Though there are many unambiguous verses in the Bible about protecting the helpless, and welcoming the stranger and the poor in dirty clothes, those sentiments seem to take a back seat to complaining about having to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” (Category Error. The author offers us a false choice. Further, the author has no idea what people do with their time, money, and talent to help others. 

More egregiously, she suggests that agreeing with the Left is the same thing as agreeing with the Bible. And it seems that she is advocating public policy that agrees with Bible teaching. I wonder what happened to the separation of church and state?)

A late October study by the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, found that while 60 percent of all Americans surveyed said they opposed passing a law to prevent refugees from entering the U.S., 51 percent of white evangelical protestants, 47 percent of mainline protestants and 43 percent of white Catholics favor such a law.

Take from that what you will.

But level-headed people will agree that a person can be concerned with or even opposed to unchecked migration without being a heartless monster. (Hmm. Abandoning her previous certainty, she walks back her argument.)

And cruelty is the real issue here.

In the days after Jakelin’s death, the Trump administration blamed her father for putting the young girl through such a strenuous and difficult journey, opening the floodgates to an avalanche of dehumanizing victim-blaming on newspaper comment boards, on social media and in coffee shops, hair salons and bars across the country. (Jakelin Caal died of live failure and dehydration. She was neglected. American doctors tried to save her. The blame falls squarely on those who were supposed to be keeping her safe. Instead, they subjected this poor child to a dangerous journey with little regard for her well-being. Trump's comments were correct.)

Again, cool heads can come together and discuss the perverse incentives that might cause desperate parents to expose their child to potential harm on a long, perilous journey to plea for asylum in the U.S. (Another conciliatory gesture.)

But ("But." Whenever one sees this word, one must understand it takes back what was previously written.)

do so-called Jesus-loving, God-fearing Christians have to be so darned gleeful when they crow that the kid and her dad had it coming, and that it should be a lesson to others? (Again the author attempts to connect the issue to Christians, but she has yet to document her claims.)

Countless cards will be exchanged this holiday season with the cliche “Peace on Earth and goodwill to all men,” but the phrasing deserves a closer look. (Which the author will not do. She seems to have a penchant for throwing out random phrases, coupled with baseless accusations against unnamed bogeyman.

Let's quote the passage the author references. 

Lk. 2:13-14 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

We see that is a company of angels, speaking to the shepherds, who are making a pronouncement. The word εὐδοκία literally means, "with whom he is pleased." The angels are not heralding peace on earth, nor are they referencing "all men." The peace they are proclaiming is a forerunner of the the gospel message, that God is going to make it possible to be part of those with whom God is pleased.  

In actual fact, Jesus is clear about His purpose. 

Lk. 12:51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.

Again we find Jesus referencing peace, and who it belongs to:

Jn. 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

The apostle Paul clarifies. 

Ro. 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...

We conclude the author doesn't know the Scriptures, for if she did she would know that the peace the angels are pronouncing is peace for the people of God.)

Regardless of whether your politics lean left or right, there has to be hope that we can disagree on policy issues while still respecting humanity.

Never mind merely not using the death of an innocent child to score political points — (Like the author is doing right now?)

be that with your preferred party or against your political enemy — can everyone, at least for a few days at Christmastime, dabble in humility? (From which apparently the author is exempt...)

Is it possible to find some compassion — not ideological agreement with, but just some modicum of understanding — for those who have so little back home that they’re willing to trek thousands of miles through unimaginable peril for any opportunity to feed their families? (A tacit admission that the child's journey was dangerous. Whose fault was it that she died?)

Don’t do it for your visiting relatives, or for the sake of avoiding political arguments with loved ones. This Christmas, indulge your natural benevolence as a gift to yourself.

Gaze upon the manger scene that portrays Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem, looking for a safe place to give birth to the baby Jesus and open your heart to the stranger just a little. (Gawd, the manipulation and cheesy moralizing is getting overwhelming.)

Giving migrants like Jakelin and her father the benefit of the doubt will help restore a small piece of your human, and spiritual, mercifulness. (In what way?)

Esther J. Cepeda is a nationally syndicated columnist with The Washington Post Writers Group. She was previously a reporter and columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.