I was going to pen a much more detailed, thoughtful expose on why Christmas is important, but I will instead steal a page from Sister Toldjah’s book, and like her, repost this classic explanation:
I was going to write a big fancy message tonight for Christmas, but I think that video says it best.
Wherever you are tonight, say thanks for your blessings, whether they be big or small. This year I have felt particularly blessed, and have wondered why God would choose to bless me in the way he has, as I don’t always feel like I’m always the best Christian I can be. But a wise man recently told me that God knows a believer’s heart, and rewards that person with blessings, in part, based on whether or not that person’s heart is in the right place - blessings of love and/or prosperity (and not just of the money kind). And sometimes those blessings aren’t obvious ones, but they are there all the same.
For years the Washington State Capital has had a Christmas tree in the Capital rotunda. yes, they wimped out years ago and labeled it a “holiday tree”, but for all the political correctness, it is a friggin Christmas tree.
A Jewish group added a Menorah to the display, then another religious group petitioned to add a nativity scene, and won.
That brought us to the present debacle.
An atheist group placed a “winter solstice” sign that denounced all religion.
And the fun started, as local groups expressed outrage. The was transparently intended to be insulting and it worked.
It even made Bill O’Reilly’s show, featuring local horses ass David Goldstein (who also has a blog called horsesass)…
…twice, as it made his show again when he went head to head against Megyn Kelly of Fox News.
And the two latest news stories are that someone took the sign, it conveniently turned it in to a radio station, and it is back in place; and that a local pastor is seeking to place a clear anti atheism sign nearby
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Snow fell on Baghdad on Friday for the first time in memory, and delighted residents declared it an omen of peace.
“It is the first time we’ve seen snow in Baghdad,” said 60-year-old Hassan Zahar. “We’ve seen sleet before, but never snow. I looked at the faces of all the people, they were astonished,” he said.
“A few minutes ago, I was covered with snowflakes. In my hair, on my shoulders. I invite all the people to enjoy peace, because the snow means peace,” he said.
Traffic policeman Murtadha Fadhil, huddling under a balcony to keep dry, declared the snow “a new sign of the new Iraq.”
“It’s a sign of hope. We hope Iraqis will purify their hearts and politicians will work for the prosperity of all Iraqis.”
The streets of the capital were largely empty as big, thick, wet flakes fell on Friday morning, a weekend day in Iraq. The temperature hovered around freezing and the snow mostly melted into grey puddles when it hit the ground.
This Christmas was my daughter’s first “real” Christmas. No she is not a baby, she is 17 and a senior in High School.
The reason I say it is her first one, is that this year she is working and decided to buy presents for all of our family herself, and in doing so, she went all out. And it was a joy to behold.
First some history.
Throughout Kayla’s early years, times were somewhat hard. I was military, recently divorced and remarried, and frankly we had little money for many years.
Kayla never lost her holiday spirit, and always took great delight in Christmas, even when there were only a few presents under the tree.
When she reached an age to want to give presents, we often didn’t have the resources to help her buy presents for the other kids, so she made her own. Her present of choice for many years was to take scraps of cloth (she loved to sew and collected fabric) and batting and make mini pillows, some only a few inches long. She would spend hours making them by hand, then wrapping them, so no one was forgotten.
What this is not: A campaign commercial. If he had not flashed his name at the end you would not have known. No voice overs, no photo ops. Just the music, and the photos which speak volumes.
What this is: A classy way to wish the troops a happy holiday, considering where many of them are, without overtly trying to sleaze a few votes.
The news has been hopping all over this, both locally and nationally, and the outrage has been huge. It is no surprise they reversed their decision and are reinstalling the trees. More on that in a moment.
The back story: A few months ago a Sea-Tac Employee asked for permission to add a Menorah to a Christmas tree display. He was initially granted permission, but after a second look it was denied. The Port of Seattle determined that adding a religious icon to the Christmas display, which was primarily intended to be secular would violate the law, as Sea-Tac is technically a government facility. The Employee consulted his Rabbi who engaged in a discussion with the Port of Seattle official.
Finally after getting nowhere, the Rabbi consulted an attorney who presented the POS the threat of a lawsuit, if they did not comply.
So rather then engage a legal debate, the POS pulled the trees, arguing that none was better then a lawsuit.
In a resounding victory, Christmas threw off all opposition and was able to make an appearance for the entire day, December 25th 2005.
In a prepared statement, Christmas said:
"Well, it was a tough battle, the enemy was ready and prepared, but in the end, we were just unstoppable."
Christmas went on to say it was ready for the expected battle next year, which it anticipated would be just as bad.
Christmas’s opponent, Code Named Scrooge, was disappointed but optimistic, saying:
"We made considerable headway against all that Peace on Earth crap, and everyone should realize right now that Christmas is in for a fight. Wait till next year. Bah Humbug!"
Observers admit the battle was fierce, but still acknowledge that victory was assured. One observer noted that:
"People can say what they will about Christmas, but in reality they just love a time of happiness, a time of peace. The roots to Christmas are inside us, the belief that people when given the chance would do good things. The whole season resonates with the desire to give a little more, and be a little happier".
Lately I have read a practically constant stream of articles about the assault on Christmas in America. Radio talk shows, tv commentaries and even blog comments all dive into this daily.
What concerns me is the misunderstandings and mischaracterizations being popularized by the various people. To explain my views on this, let me introduce a few popular perceptions as labeled by the various proponents or opponents.
The first groups is commonly the conservatives, and they are made out to be religious zealots, who want Christmas an everyday word and nativity scenes in every yard. They claim that the secular world is stamping out Christmas as a further attempt to stamp out religion.
The liberals are commonly seen as the aggressors and the defenders against the accusations. They are commonly accused of persecuting Christians by making their faith and celebrations essentially illegal, and hidden from sight. For their part they claim that they are trying to improve diversity, by preventing one faith from dominating the season.
Neither side is quite what they appear, and I will come back to that.
I have just about had it with religious intolerance in the name of political correctness. It seems like you cannot turn around without seeing something in the paper about it, and frankly it’s approaching the point of ridiculousness. Here are a couple examples. First we go to Medina, WA: http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/224577Medina Elementary School officials took down a Christmas-themed "giving tree" Monday after a parent complained about its religious connotations. Chris Metzger, office manager at Medina, said the spiral, lighted Christmas tree with a star on top was up for about a week before it was removed. The tree had mittens on it with a different gift idea attached to each. The idea was for students to take a mitten, get the gift listed, wrap it up and return it to school along with the mitten. After the tree was taken down, the mittens were taped to a counter in the main office so the gift-giving could continue. "Now we just have a giving counter," joked Metzger, who knew that putting up the tree was "kind of iffy" because of a district policy that provides direction on the place of religion in the curriculum. It was a friggin tree, not a nativity scene, not an alter….A tree. Oh My GOD, it had a star on top! Last time I looked you didn’t have to be a member of a Christian church to have one, and this was for a good purpose: Giving. Well hopefully the table stays, unless maybe someone objects to it being a Professional wrestling prop and complains its too violent. Next we go to Glendale, WI: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47749
Religious-liberty attorneys have contacted a Wisconsin school district that consistently forbids Christian Christmas carols from being sung in music programs but finds nothing wrong with Hanukkah songs. A statement from Liberty Counsel tells the story of Barbara Wheeler, whose 9-year-old daughter attends school in the district. In 2003, when the district’s music programs excluded religious Christmas songs, Wheeler complained about their absence. School officials said they would get back to her, but they reportedly never did. Last year, Wheeler voiced complaints to the district in mid-November, but school officials said the songs already were set. This year, when the school’s music program contained Hanukkah and secular Christmas songs but no religious Christmas songs, Wheeler again objected. That’s when the mother was referred to the district’s written policy: "Music programs given at times close to religious holidays should not use the religious aspect of these holidays as the underlying motive or theme. No songs should be sung which contain dogmatic religious statements." According to Liberty Counsel, Frances Smith, the district administrator, says the Hanukkah songs are more cultural than spiritual and thus are OK to sing. Tell that to a practicing Jew, that his or her faith is just cultural. Even as their songs are permitted, they are subtly insulted. Last, we go to the UK: http://tinyurl.com/9qyhwSchool bans girl from wearing cross. A mother accused her daughter’s school of discriminating against Christians yesterday after the teenager was suspended for refusing to take off a crucifix necklace. Sam Morris, 16, was sent home from Sinfin Community School in Derby for breaking a school policy that bans jewelry. Last night her mother, Debra, said that Sikh children were allowed to wear a steel bracelet, known as a kara, for religious reasons and said her daughter had every right to express her faith. Education officials were unrepentant, however, and said that Sikhs are required by religion to wear items of jewelry, whereas Christians are not. Mrs Morris, 37, said: "Sam has worn this necklace for more than three years. No one has told her to take it off before, and she doesn’t want to remove it. But just to show that intolerance is an equal opportunity employer, here is an odd bit of intolerance from the other side of the faith aisle. From Palm Coast FL; http://tinyurl.com/8emreWitch says fellow pagan out to get her It was close to midnight on Sunday and Jill Pagan — who practices paganism and calls herself a witch — was getting settled into bed when she heard a crash. It sounded like something might have fallen. Upon investigation, Pagan discovered that her home’s white aluminum door had a large gash in it. And just to the right, a large chunk of concrete was sitting in a flowerpot with a note attached to it by rubber bands. She immediately recognized a handwritten note in an ancient language called Theban, which she said is used almost exclusively by witches. Pagan called a Flagler County sheriff’s deputy to her family’s home, but no report has been filed on the incident, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Debra Johnson said Monday. Pagan later translated the message as, " ‘You’ve been warned. Stop what you’re doing,’ " she said Monday. And it was a way to scare her, her husband and daughter. Pagan thinks the suspect is someone known to the local pagan community —- perhaps another pagan familiar with Theban script. Interesting twist. All I can say is that bigotry is on the rise in the world. In the name of tolerance it has become vogue to be intolerant. The last example may not totally fit that definition, but in practically all arenas there is this stubborn streak of bigotry and hatred towards those who disagree with you, and I refuse to marginalize it by claiming its the liberals, or the conservatives, or the atheists or the Christians or whatever identifiable affiliation you want. The trouble is that rather then trying to live together in harmony and respect, it is turning into a titanic shoving match, where every new move sets Newton’s 3rd law into operation: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, which is similar to my last blog, on action and consequence. These all may seem like trivial and harmless examples, but as they build up we get to a point where the reactions become retribution and revenge, otherwise known as overreaction, and take on a life of their own increasing in scope and magnitude. That draws amplified counteractions and on we go. Lather, Rinse and Repeat. And all of this is ironically happening while they take down signs that say "Peace on earth and good will to mankind"…that’s too religious of a message.
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