Fess up. Which of you liberals is trying to steal Christmas from the AFA again this year?

madfloridian

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Oct-21-08 10:18 PM
Original message

Fess up. Which of you liberals is trying to steal Christmas from the AFA again this year?

Make that the American Family Association. The AFA starts this stealing Christmas theme every year, saying we are making people fearful of saying "Merry Christmas". They are for some reason starting very very early this year.

Even before Halloween.

From the Americans United for Separation of Church and State website.

Holiday Humbug...say Merry Christmas to Don Wildmon.

As I stood there arms deep in pumpkin goo, it was hard to think of anything but candy corn, trick or treaters and �It�s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.� I know Christmas is coming in two months � but c�mon. Can�t we take the holidays one at a time?

Not according to the Rev. Donald Wildmon. In what is becoming a yearly tradition, the dour founder of the American Family Association has once again, two weeks before Halloween, started complaining about the failure of people to use the phrase �Merry Christmas.�

�It�s OK To Say Merry Christmas,� blare new buttons and stickers being hawked on the AFA Web site. A pack of 10 buttons goes for a �suggested donation� of nine dollars, but the �semi-permanent adhesive, glossy finish stickers� run high at 10 for $24 (with free shipping!)

�It�s hard to believe that there are companies and individuals who want to ban �Merry Christmas� and replace it with �Holiday Greetings� because, they say, they don�t want to offend anyone,� Wildmon grumps in a press release.

Yes, that is hard to believe � because no one wants to do that. I�ve been through this with Wildmon and his buddies before.

And here's the AFA website with Don Wildmon's suggestion about how to keep us taking Merry Christmas away from them.

�It�s OK to say Merry Christmas�

And you know what? It's not just Christmas they think we liberals are harming. They think we are redefining the holiday of Easter. They started a whole campaign against Howard Dean and the DNC when the DNC sent out greetings for Easter a couple of years ago. It was not religious enough in nature for the group, and they attacked Dean for days for trying to secularize Easter.

Christian conservatives say Dean redefining Easter by leaving out word "Jesus"

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean released the following statement commemorating the Easter holiday this Sunday:

�Easter Sunday is a joyful celebration. The holiday represents peace, redemption and renewal, a theme which brings hope to people of all faiths. During this time Christians are called to remember who they are as people of faith, and that even the greatest of evils will not have the last word. It is also a time to reflect upon and be in solidarity with those who are persecuted and suffering among us. We should also use this time to honor those who continue to make incredible sacrifices for us, including our brave men and women in the armed forces serving overseas during this holiday. I would like to wish all those celebrating around the world this Sunday, a joyous Easter.�

They had hissyfits over that statement. It was almost unbelievable.

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean is taking flak from some evangelical Christians for issuing an Easter statement that did not mention Jesus Christ or His resurrection. Dean is being criticized for a DNC press release that described Easter Sunday as a "holiday represents peace, redemption and renewal, a theme which brings hope to people of all faiths."

American Family Association chairman Don Wildmon has called on Dean and the DNC to apologize to Christians for "taking Easter and making it into a nondescript, universal, nonexclusive religious celebration for all religions." But Pastor Rob Schenck of the National Clergy Council says Dean's definition of Easter is not shocking because the Democratic leader has long been the "quintessential secularist."

Schenck says he is surprised, however, that someone within the DNC did not realize the statement was "no way to try to connect with evangelicals." Dean's statement "does betray that, at its heart, the Democratic leadership is in fact secularist by philosophy and worldview," the pastor notes.

Americans United's Rob Boston finishes his rant on Wildmon with some advice.

Don�t look to corporations and stores to save your holiday, Don. Don�t expect that a directive from a home office somewhere ordering the men and women who staff the checkouts to say �Merry Christmas� will lead to a religious revival. It�s just silly.

Want a religious experience in December? I know where you can find one: in a church.

Finally, I�d just like to be the first to wish Don Wildmon and the entire staff of the AFA a very Merry Christmas.

I hope they�re happy now because I�ve got to go pick up some Halloween candy.

I remember how well this worked in 2003. I belonged to a couple of mailing lists fairly locally then...a high school alumni list and a list of teachers who had retired and kept in touch. Because of the chain mails about Iraq, tension was raised on both lists in this conservative area. But the stealing Christmas was the final straw.

One teacher I respected and taught with for years started griping about how the liberals were stealing Christmas. I gave up trying to reason and took myself off both lists not long after that.

It worked quite well at dividing us in 2003. It is so stupid, it just might work again.