War on Christmas Article that Should make you Furious

[bryant69]

I should say I'm tired of the War on Christmas - after a certain point all the right wing complaints start to bleed together and I can't care very much about any of them. But if you want to read a particularly wrongheaded article on the War on Christmas --> http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WilliamRusher/2006/12/19/the_war_against_christmas

"Now, atheists represent only a small portion of the population (numbers are difficult to come by, but 10 percent would be a generous estimate), but they are an extremely influential group, heavily represented in various intellectual elites. Hitherto they have chosen to stay safely below the radar screen of public consciousness, but in recent years a significant number of them have begun speaking out more frankly. (The Dec. 17 New York Times Book Review contains a full-page ad by Alfred Knopf & Co. urging readers to "This year, give the gift of reason: the courageous, bestselling book that challenges religious dogma -- 'Letter to a Christian Nation' by Sam Harris.")

The argument between atheists and religious advocates has, of course, been going on a long time. All that has happened is that, in the United States today, the atheists have acquired at last the critical mass, or perhaps just the intestinal fortitude, to engage their adversaries openly. The dispute has promptly taken political form, and most of the atheists have found haven in the Democratic Party, which tends to treat them as just another victimized minority."

Nice revisionist look at atheist history there. "Chose to stay safely below the radar screen?" Nice.

Bryant

[ClassWarrior]

1. Why are some religious people so weak in their faith that...

...they're afraid to be "engaged openly?" That's the thing I can't figure. I mean, if you're right, you should fear no challenge, right?

NGU.

[havocmom]

3. Good question. Faith shouldn't have a problem with dissent

Now, delusional people, they seem to get pretty testy at anything they perceive as a threat to their delusion.

I have no problem with people of real faith. Delusional people who verge on violent emotional response if I don't go along with their beliefs, on the other hand, annoy the crap outta me. Some of them are dangerous. Doesn't seem to matter much what they believe in. If they feel it necessary to cram it down everyone else's throat, they are dangerous.

[atreides1]

5. My Guess

Is that they place more faith in men then they ever did in God!!!!

[IWantAChange]

2. Repug BizzaroWorld knows no limits - how did this come about?

Maybe the MSM really isn't all that 'liberal' - ya think??????

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. I figured the reason atheists are speaking out

is because certain religious elements have started wearing their religion on their sleeves, as it were. It is as if church membership is a litmus test of some kind, and you had better measure up or else. (This same uncomfortable feeling is shared by non-Christian believers, btw, and probably many liberal/progressive Christians)

[cosmik debris]

6. You're right

There was no war on Christmas when Christmas was optional. When the fundies decided that it should be compulsory the war began. Contrary to their spin, it is not a war on Christmas, it is a war on mandatory Christmas.

[greyl]

11. "war on mandatory Christmas"

Nice. :thumbsup:

[eppur_se_muova]

13. "Have a Merry Christmas -- it's mandatory!"

:rofl: OK, I gotta work that one into the system. Let's see -- if someone says "Have a Merry Christmas", you could ask, "Is it mandatory (yet)?".

[NMMNG]

7. Same tripe, different source.

But it surely cannot be terribly offensive to wish even non-Christians a "Merry Christmas," when all that means is that the wisher believes that something happened in a Palestinian manger 2,000 ago that, properly understood, would give everyone reason to be merry.

The fundies get in a snit if they're wished "Happy Holidays" yet wonder how anybody might take issue with being wished a "Merry Christmas". Then they think that everybody, if they'd only show a little understanding, would just fall all over themselves being merry over their little Christian holiday.

Funny, but I don't see the fundies running around being understanding or happy about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Eid al Adha or any other non-Christian holidays. :eyes:

[bperci108]

9. A suggestion...

"The fundies get in a snit if they're wished "Happy Holidays"..."

I always have the radar out for anyone who gets offended by "Happy Holidays" and if they get in a snit about it, I wish them a "Blessed Solstice".



:evilgrin:

[NMMNG]

17. Nice idea

Of course, after watching the most recent episode of "House" I'm tempted to wish them a Happy Go To Hell. :evilgrin:

[jcrew2001]

8. xmas

Fundy Christians are obsessed with proselytizing and tearing up the Constitution with freedom of religion.

Do they realize that Hanukkah has been around for thousands of years before Christmas and that Jesus was actually born some time in the Spring, but the Catholic Church needed to compete and covert Jews, so they chose to have Christmas at the same time as Hanukkah.

Its also strange that the GOP.com website only has "Happy Holidays."

[bperci108]

10. I heard it differently...

...the pagan Romans, who became converted after Constantine's conversion (and subsequent declaration of Christianity as the new Roman state religion) still wanted to keep their festivals and celebrations, so these holidays became "christianized".

The celebration of the winter solstice became the celebration of the Nativity.

But I could be wrong.... :shrug:

[Goblinmonger]

12. My understanding is pagan roman, too.

That was the point of the council of nicea. My guess, though I have done no research on it, is that the celebration of the solstice pre-dates the Jewish religion and that the celebration of Hanukkah was a means to co-opt pagans (Hanukkah is a "celebration of lights" just like solstice is, you know).

[nemo137]

15. Not quite, as far as Hanukkah goes.

Hanukkah isn't fixed to the solstice the same way the Christianity or Saturnalia are. It's celebrating the olive harvest and the Maccabees victory over some foreign conquorer, and the oil burning in the temple for 8 days when there should only have been enough for one.

[Zebedeo]

14. Self Delete

*

[Crunchy Frog]

18. Actually, the events that Hanukkah celebrates

only happened around 165 BCE, and it's my understanding that it has never been one of the major holidays on the Jewish calender. Also, the Catholic Church by that time was no longer particularly interested in the Jews, but was trying to compete with and convert the pagan Romans, and later the Germanic and Celtic peoples. Christmas was chosen to coincide with the very popular Saturnalia, Yule, and other Solstice celebrations, from which it also took many of the myths and customs.

That Christmas and most of its trappings are mostly pagan in origin doesn't seem to bother the Fundie Christmas warriors, though their predecessors in colonial America very sensibly banned the holiday.

[Danger Mouse]

16. It's the atheists, sir!

They're attacking!

[struggle4progress]

19. And I thought the Puritans started the war on Christmas. Oh, well.