Christian Anti-Defamation Commission & the "war" on Christmas

[Image of Gary Cass borrowed from southern4life blog]

Ah, the poor christianists in our country. They are sorely abused, challenged, chastised, made to feel inferior, unable to promote their religion, beat up by atheists, agnostics and other weird religious groups.

One wonders why this should be, seeing as how the majority of people in the United States lay claim to some form of Christianity. As PZ Myers notes at Pharyngula, you can't even get elected in this fair land without espousing a belief in God, and being a Christian believer just makes attaining a place on the public dole that much easier.

Nevertheless, Christians are under seige and we can be very glad there is such a thing as the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission! God can't help these poor christianists, so it's about time they took the situation in hand and did something about it. Rejoice in the fact that the CADC is on top of things and busy protecting Christians from their anti-Christians neighbors!


One example as to how Christians are persecuted, according to Dr. Gary Cass, head poohbah of the CADC, is the war that secularists and atheists and mainline church-goers wage on Christian Christmas celebrations.

Cass comments "The twin enemies of Christmas, secular humanism and political correctness, have had a very corrosive influence on Christmas this year."

What in the world does that mean? Were any Christians anywhere in the United States not allowed to celebrate Christmas according to the tenets of their faith? Did secular humanists burst into churches on Christmas Eve and disrupt the services? Was Santa Claus outlawed from sliding down the chimney anywhere in the U.S. where they have chimneys?

I'm mocking Mr. Cass.


The truth is that Cass has looked into the future and doesn't like what he sees. "Radical atheist groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation ... have gone on the offense." Yup. These nasties have actually placed signs and billboards around the country "attacking faith in general and Christian faith in particular." Dontcha know only Christians are allowed to put up signs advocating their beliefs?

It's almost too much to bear: "While FFRF is free to express their benighted perspective," whines Cass, "why do they feel they have to do it in the midst of the Christmas season?" They don't put up signs during Ramadan or during Jewish holidays. "Their intentions appear to be only anti-Christian."

Omigod.


Cass whines on about the bus signs in Washington, D.C. that asked "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake." I guess he thinks people should only be good when and if a deity specifically instructs them to do so.

More whining, this time about "political correctness." There were just too many big retail stores that refused to mention Christmas in their advertising. Rather, they used the phrase "Happy Holidays" merely to avoid offending some people. Yikes!

And the schools! My goodness for goodness sake, some schools took the name "Jesus" out of Christmas assignments, and the University of North Carolina took down their Xmas trees because some folks complained about them.


'Tis a terrible problem, this persecution of Christians. Next thing you know some atheist SOB will want to throw 'em to the lions; right here in the US of A where trust in god is part of our money.

Cass suggests good Christian folks can help to mitigate the damage done by the atheists, agnostics, leftists, liberals, mainline Christians and just plain pagans by reading the Christmas story in Luke 1 & 2 to their families.

Why not read the Xmas story in Mark, or John, or even Matthew? Oops, that's right. There is no Xmas story in those Gospels! Well, except for Matthew. But his story conflicts with Luke's! Damn.

And go to church. Lock the doors behind you, though, just in case some leftist Christmas-hater walks by and shouts "Happy Holidays" through the portal!

Then run around wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas."

Try to smile!

Heh. Heh.

The war on Xmas ain't over yet!

[Photo from The No Sin Zone]

You may not have heard of the Pacific Justice Institute. Bill O'Reilly has, and he endorses it! Which ought to tell you what kind of an outfit it is. More or less. The PJI claims to be interested in justice for people who find themselves in the clutches of evil liberals or commies or lefties or judges that rewrite the Constitution.

They are about protecting Home Schooling. They want to protect the rights of Christian union members so said members don't have to pay dues.

That kinda stuff.


Would you believe they have been getting lots of complaints about pagans trying to censor good Christians from celebrating Xmas in their usual way? These censorship reports, according to an article by wingnut, Charlie Butts, at onenewsnow, have "been coming in from government, schools, and businesses."

Omigod!

Here's an example: At one school some kiddos chose songs for an Xmas program. But, poor things, "they were told they could not sing any songs that mentioned Christmas or Christ or anything with the actual origins of Christmas."

Whew! The "actual origins of Christmas" are pretty murky and cluttered up with a lot of pagan stuff. Wouldn't want the kiddos to know about that!

Oh, wait. They're talking about the mythical birth of Jesus.

I don't believe they were told they couldn't sing a song that mentioned Christmas. All kinds of non-religious Xmas songs mention Xmas; most of them have the word in their title. No biggie. Somebody's lying.


Not to worry. The Pacific Justice Institute, working 24/7 for God, is "acting quickly on the complaints to 'remedy potential First Amendment violations.'"


Now, I'll bet you sleep better tonight.


If you really have to know more about PJI, click here.

Otherwise, have a Vodka martini, shaken, not stirred. Have two. Put a log on the fire, think of the "good old days," and sing, in as maudlin a voice as possible, "I'll Be Home for Christmas."

Billboard bimbos fight war on Xmas

[Photo by Robert Yosay]

The "war" on Xmas continues.

This story comes directly from the front lines in Ohio where the battle rages! But it appears the christianists are gaining over the forces of Satan. The forces of righteousness are focusing on atheist, agnostic and "other" grinches who would take away your "right" to say "Merry Christmas!"

It all began with two ladies, Joanne Brown and Linda Bennett, who got a bit miffed when they realized that too many people in their Ohio town were greeting them with "Happy Holidays," rather than "Merry Christmas."

They were soon joined by Judi Hanna, Laurie Kramer and Pat See, and began a campaign to raise money to put up billboards with the messages, "I miss hearing you say Merry Christmas," and "Why have you stopped saying Merry Christmas?" and each message was signed, "Jesus."


Is that sick or what?


In 2007 and 2008 they collected almost $6,000 to erect seven billboards! And they are proud of their work. Christmas should be "Christ-centered," they believe. If Jesus should come walking down a street in Ohio, the ladies want us to be ready to greet him with "Happy birthday, Jesus!"

Yikes!


No doubt these nice christianist ladies think they are doing a good thing. They believe, as Ms. Hanna said, the billboards are a way of feeding "those poor in spirit," and help people understand the "reason for the season."

It's just aggravating that we have to go through this sentimental, pious claptrap every year when most people are well aware that Christmas has become one of most secular of holidays and don't give a damn! It doesn't matter how many billboards these godly ladies put up in Ohio or any other state, Christmas is not going to get more "Christ-centered," or religious.

And, for non-christians, said billboards are often an irritation, like an itch you can't scratch.


So give 'em up, ladies! Go to church. Light candles. Pray. Sing "Happy birthday, Jesus." Sing carols. Have a very merry Christmas.

And when you go home, leave your sanctimonious need to display your faith on grotesque billboards at the church.

Michael Reagan's "war" on Xmas

Photo by timtastic at Flickr

Oops. Guess I should have written "Christmas" and not Xmas.

Michael Reagan, the rightwingnut son of the late B-movie actor and sleepy prezident, Ronald, writes for a rightwingnut outfit called Townhall.com. Reagan (Michael, 'cause Ron's no longer with us) rants and raves about the usual bad guys--the libs, lefties, commies and other nogoodniks who are working day and night to bring America to its collective knees.

These days Michael has jumped into the ring to join the fight which is known by luminaries like O'Reilly and Limberger as the "war" on Christmas.

And, boy, Michael is upset. "Christmas is Not a Holiday - It's a Birthday," says Michael and that's the title of a recent Reagan column. He's not happy, because "Christmas is once again upon us, and we can expect to witness countless new displays of the rampant secularization of what is meant to be a joyous celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ."

Rampant! Secularization! Omigod!

Michael reminds his readers (hopefully, very few) that this country is literally inundated with Christians but unfortunately those Christians are wimps and have allowed the miserable SOB secularists to run all over them to the extent that they're fearful of ever saying the word, Christmas!

Now, that's serious. Seriously!

Got to put Christ back in Christmas, says Mike. And the menorah back in Hannukkah. He doesn't mention other religious groups. What Hannukkah has to do with Christmas Michael doesn't say, other than Jews ought to have a right to hang their religious stuff in public places, too, just like Christians who believe Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ.


Michael needs to take a few history lessons. We'll quickly remind him that the accounts of Jesus' birth appear in only two of the four Gospels -- Matthew and Luke, and the accounts contradict each other. They are clearly legendary, derived from stories of other savior gods, such as Mithras, who was born of a virgin in a cave on December 25, surrounded by shepherds ... the whole bit.

Furthermore, the birth of Christ was essentially a non-issue for the Christian church as it developed over the first four centuries of the Common Era. It wasn't celebrated in most places until nearly the end of the fourth century. It was at that point, when Christianity was proclaimed the religion of the Roman Empire, that the date of the birth of Christ was set as December 25 to line up with the Winter Soltice as well as pagan rituals and celebrations. It was a nice, easy fit, for the Romans had held huge Winter Soltice celebrations and celebrations of the birth of Mithras on December 24 (Mithras Eve) and December 25 (Mithras birth) for years.

Other of the accouterments related to our celebration, like Christmas trees and holly were later additions yet.


The fact is the Christian Christmas was grafted on to a "pagan" celebration nearly 400 years after the birth of Jesus is said to have occurred. And Christians who lived at the end of the 4th century would not know what to make of our Christmas celebrations today.

Furthermore, much of what we consider as essential to the Christmas celebration has secular roots. Fat guys in red suits and drunken office parties and candy canes and egg nog and pine trees and ornaments, and the insanity of decorating one's house with millions of lights -- all of which are now very much part of our Christmas celebration, have nothing to do with the legendary birth of the legendary Jesus.


What does Michael Reagan think it proves to say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays"? What does he mean by "Merry Christmas"?

The birth of Jesus has very little to do with Christmas except for those Christians who believe Jesus was actually born in 4 BCE somewhere in Palestine and came to save the world from its sins. These are the people who go to church on Christmas Eve (most churches have given up Christmas Day services as the dedicated, believing faithful don't bother to show up), put stars on top of their Christmas trees -- to make the pagan tree Xtian, I guess, and parade around the neighborhood singing Xmas carols.

And in spite of the fact that a majority of people in this country confess to some form of Christianity, most of that majority do not darken the door of the church even at Xmas. They're too busy celebrating a very secular Christmas.


Thus, there is no "war" on Christmas. That "war" exists only in the frantic, oxygen-deprived minds of people like Michael Reagan. I have never, ever, heard anyone complain about being greeted with "Merry Christmas." It's true that some folks respond with "Happy Hannukah," and there are a few grinches that might say "Bah humbug!" but that doesn't mean they are engaged in a war with everyone who smiles at them and says "Merry Christmas!"

And because for a majority of people in this country, Christians included, Christmas is, in fact, a secular holiday, it should be OK, too, to say "Happy Holidays," or "Hullabaloo," of "Shove that candy cane where the sun don't shine!"

Did you get that last suggestion, Michael?