Falwell's war on religion
So, I heard a little gem from this morning's news: Jerry Falwell is looking to sue businesses, schools, and anywhere that spreads "inaccurate" information about Christmas. Basically, it's intended to intimidate people into saying Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays or "have a great holiday."
Adding to this lunacy, the bigoted American Family Association has announced a boycott of Target for allegedly ignoring Christmas, a claim that Target denies and a look at my local Target disproves. Signs for Christmas trees, a Christmas card rack, shirts with Merry Christmas....yeah, so much for being a Christmas hater.
Evangelicals have passed the myth for over 15 years that Christmas is under attack, that the evil "liberals" are trying to get rid of Christmas. That claim is so patently false as to break one of God's Ten Commandments, you know, thou shalt not lie.
This is really about trying to homogenize America into their Christian theocratic beliefs. I'm a dissenting Catholic, (which has caused some heated debate with a right-wing Catholic friend of mine who says I'm not Catholic because I disagree with some of the teachings, but that's another story) and I'm a left-center guy, and I celebrate Christmas. I know many other liberals who celebrate Christmas, who go to church and pray, who have faith. We're not trying to get rid of Christmas. We're just trying to be tolerant and recognize the fact that there are other faiths.
If one of these idiots looked at a calendar this year, they'd see that Hannukah falls on, get this, Christmas. So, the season isn't just the Christmas season, it's also the Hannukah season. Does that mean we shouldn't count them? Should the several million Jews in this country not have their holiday celebrated and recognized? And what about this country's Muslims? They don't celebrate Christmas. Should they, too, have to be told something they don't believe?
What this amounts to is a war on all other religions not under the evangelical banner, a war that used to be waged on Catholicism too (witness the attacks on Catholics by the KKK 80 years ago), and now is being waged silently against Jews and Muslims. Witness, in fact, this old chestnut by self-proclaimed evangelical Ann Coulter: "We should kill all their (Muslim) leaders and convert them to Christianity."
And from the Catholic Bill O'Reilly, "I'm just looking out for the baby Jesus." Funny, guys, if you were looking out for Jesus, you'd be looking out for his beliefs, like assistance for the poor, taking care of the sick, nonviolent response, tolerance, which, strangely enough, these self-proclaimed "defenders of Jesus" do none of. I believe there is a word for them: hypocrite.
The worst thing about all of this is the fact that liberals have to defend themselves against these charges. These people attack our faith, something that has no place in politics and our national life, and we have to defend against a baseless charge. There's no "war on Christmas." Liberals are not attacking Christmas. Liberals are simply arguing for the inclusion of other faiths in the holiday celebration, like, you know, Hannukah, and if I remember right, Jews came before Christians, and there are many Jews here who shouldn't have their holiday shoved out of the way because Christians are a majority. The founders said we have majority rule, minority rights, and these jackasses like Falwell try to play pity party and make Christians, who comprise probably 80% of the nation, a minority.
It's time to fight back, hard. While this argument shouldn't even be taking place, it is, and it can't be a one-sided match, because a lie that's told enough times becomes true in the minds of the public. The real war is on tolerance, inclusion, and yes, religion, and it's the Jerry Falwells and James Dobsons who are waging it.
Adding to this lunacy, the bigoted American Family Association has announced a boycott of Target for allegedly ignoring Christmas, a claim that Target denies and a look at my local Target disproves. Signs for Christmas trees, a Christmas card rack, shirts with Merry Christmas....yeah, so much for being a Christmas hater.
Evangelicals have passed the myth for over 15 years that Christmas is under attack, that the evil "liberals" are trying to get rid of Christmas. That claim is so patently false as to break one of God's Ten Commandments, you know, thou shalt not lie.
This is really about trying to homogenize America into their Christian theocratic beliefs. I'm a dissenting Catholic, (which has caused some heated debate with a right-wing Catholic friend of mine who says I'm not Catholic because I disagree with some of the teachings, but that's another story) and I'm a left-center guy, and I celebrate Christmas. I know many other liberals who celebrate Christmas, who go to church and pray, who have faith. We're not trying to get rid of Christmas. We're just trying to be tolerant and recognize the fact that there are other faiths.
If one of these idiots looked at a calendar this year, they'd see that Hannukah falls on, get this, Christmas. So, the season isn't just the Christmas season, it's also the Hannukah season. Does that mean we shouldn't count them? Should the several million Jews in this country not have their holiday celebrated and recognized? And what about this country's Muslims? They don't celebrate Christmas. Should they, too, have to be told something they don't believe?
What this amounts to is a war on all other religions not under the evangelical banner, a war that used to be waged on Catholicism too (witness the attacks on Catholics by the KKK 80 years ago), and now is being waged silently against Jews and Muslims. Witness, in fact, this old chestnut by self-proclaimed evangelical Ann Coulter: "We should kill all their (Muslim) leaders and convert them to Christianity."
And from the Catholic Bill O'Reilly, "I'm just looking out for the baby Jesus." Funny, guys, if you were looking out for Jesus, you'd be looking out for his beliefs, like assistance for the poor, taking care of the sick, nonviolent response, tolerance, which, strangely enough, these self-proclaimed "defenders of Jesus" do none of. I believe there is a word for them: hypocrite.
The worst thing about all of this is the fact that liberals have to defend themselves against these charges. These people attack our faith, something that has no place in politics and our national life, and we have to defend against a baseless charge. There's no "war on Christmas." Liberals are not attacking Christmas. Liberals are simply arguing for the inclusion of other faiths in the holiday celebration, like, you know, Hannukah, and if I remember right, Jews came before Christians, and there are many Jews here who shouldn't have their holiday shoved out of the way because Christians are a majority. The founders said we have majority rule, minority rights, and these jackasses like Falwell try to play pity party and make Christians, who comprise probably 80% of the nation, a minority.
It's time to fight back, hard. While this argument shouldn't even be taking place, it is, and it can't be a one-sided match, because a lie that's told enough times becomes true in the minds of the public. The real war is on tolerance, inclusion, and yes, religion, and it's the Jerry Falwells and James Dobsons who are waging it.
posted by Thad at 1:01 PM
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