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To start with, I
was raised in the Christian religion and all the traditions that pertain
to it. I understood the meaning behind the various slogans and greetings
that go along with Christianity, whatever sect of it one might belong to.
This (2005) has been a year
that caused me to ask, at least once, "With all of the different kinds of
disasters that happen to our country, why do we need terrorism to make us
feel threatened?" Indeed, what do terrorists hope to accomplish beyond a
mere stirring of the witches' cauldron Mother Nature and our own people
have been constantly brewing?
I remember Reverend Bellig
leading us in song at our little C&MA Church, where we were warned that
TVs were the Devil's Instrument, that Christmas trees were a sacrilege,
and that we were never to wear jewelry, post images on our walls, nor have
any other thing about our persons that would fixate our minds on anything
other than the Christian God. I left the church long ago, but that stark
message remains with me everywhere I go.
I thought about it every time I
read or heard about Roy Moore's Rock. I thought about it every time I was
given to salute our American flag and say the words "under God" in what,
to me, constitute a prayer to a graven image. I think about it whenever I
see shortened versions of Moses' stone tablets displayed along with
pictures purported to be of Jesus wherever I go, not only in people's
homes, but in all kinds of governmental edifices and public places, the
idols God warned mankind not to offer their esteem. I wonder about it when
I hear about the secular people who want public property cleared of all
the idols and images purported to represent Jesus and God. I fret about it
when I realize that, if the claims are true, then the secular folks –the
atheists, agnostics, and whoever else gets included in that– are actually
doing the work that their God has challenged the Christians to accomplish.
So, who are these people who
are calling themselves Christians while working against the challenges
that Christ had posed for them, if the Bible they keep referring us all to
is telling the truth? Are they poseurs, lying to the world about the
religion they claim to be theirs only to stir up some kind of trouble? I
realize the cunningness with which the terrorists work, who would realize
our government would get too distracted while looking into the nests of
Muslims to worry about self-proclaimed Christians running around and
stirring things up. I just don't believe these folks belong to that kind
of charade, although I have no proof to tell me otherwise.
But, look: After all the other
hokum about what secularists and atheists are proclaimed to be guilty of,
along comes a "War on Christmas" that I, now one of those secular people,
and therefore supposedly one who is "in" on what is going on with folks
like me, had never heard a chirp about until some Catholic guy started
griping about the President's Christmas cards. "Happy Holidays" and
"Season's Greetings" the politically correct card read, with no mention of
Christmas at all. I didn't get one, of course. I had to take the Catholic
guy's word for it, along with that of the news anchor who passed the story
on to his viewers. I imagine he didn't get one, either, so the entire
thing is likely a work of fiction.
Nevertheless, everybody started
discussing it, then, and people started marching on those places where the
war is supposed to be taking place. I read about a group who marched on
the ACLU offices in Washington, carrying signs and singing carols. The
workers in the ACLU offices, having never been serenaded (the story goes
on), went out and joined in on the festive moment. One of the workers, a
Baptist minister, witnessed to the marchers, whose endeavor turned into a
learning experience for them. Here, from another part of that same story,
is a quote:
"This year,
several groups are once again introducing the Christmas season with some
heated and misleading military rhetoric. Some declare, "There is a war
against Christmas!" One group launched a "Friend or Foe Christmas
Campaign." One particularly bizarre charge is that there is "a thorough
and virulent anti-Christmas campaign." Without a shred of evidence, they
pretend that there is an effort afoot to remove "God" from the
Declaration of Independence. Two groups even announced that they have
assembled hundreds of lawyers to protect Christmas against this
imaginary threat."
See what I mean?
Lawyers are expensive. They should save their money and put it to some
good use! I am aware enough about what goes on in my side of things to
wonder what they are talking about. The writer of this piece claims the
threat is imaginary. In my mind, having only heard about it from the
Christian side, I assume he's right.
And, I do know this: In my
religious indoctrination I became aware of the significance of the various
kinds of greetings. "Merry Christmas" refers to the day, assigned to
December 25th, on which the birth of Christ gets celebrated.
"Happy Holidays" (this being obvious, because it is plural) and "Season's
Greetings" gets to spread the cheer with the whole season in mind. Not
only are you to be happy on Christmas, but also on all your days off from
the beginning of the season until whenever you finish off after the New
Year Carousing Ceremony, all through Hanukkah, Chanukkah, the 12 days, and
whatever else occurs during that period that an innocent country boy like
me would be unaware about.
So, the President meant, in my
Christian-trained mind, to include the entire season, and now a war on
Christmas has been declared?— and he has become a soldier on the
unChristian side of the battles? I think somebody is poking the fire with
a dry stick.
And, I'm really starting to
wonder about that terrorism thing.
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