Well, we're four weeks away from Christmas and the anti-Christmas/Christian bigots are out in force. All over this great land, founded by Christians, people are getting hammered for saying Merry Christmas or Christmas tree. Happy holidays and Holiday tree are now the pc greetings for the season, although those phrases will probably be axed soon, since "holiday" is a contraction of "holy day", and we can't have anyone suggesting that religion has anything to do with this holiday--oops!--I mean festive, season.
This is pathetic! I'm not a church goer, but I'm pissed at this blatant suppression and censoring of the religious heritage of this nation. Lets face it, Christians founded America. Muslims didn't; Jews didn't; Bhuddists didn't; pagans didn't; and atheists certainly didn't. Christians did! Christians wrote all our founding documents, from the Mayflower Compact to the Constitution and all subsequent documents. Christianity provided the worldview which produced the Founding Fathers' political philosophy. Christian pastors, known as the Black Regiment because of their black clerical garments, wrote the majority--about 80%--of the pro-revolutionary pamphlets during the Revolutionary War. In fact, the Black Regiment was so influential that one British member of parliament was prompted to say, "Cousin America has run off with a Presbertyrian parson." And if you're still not convinced of America's Christian heritage, consider this.
Look at a US map. From Providence, RI, to Los Angeles, CA, hundreds, if not thousands, of America's cities and towns bear Biblical and Christian-based names. Four state capitals: Santa Fe, NM; Salem, OR; St. Paul, MN; and Providence, RI, have Christian names. The name of one Texas city, Corpus Christi, actually means Body of Christ. Numerous (Jeru)Salems, Hebrons, and Bethlehems dot the American landscape. Saints abound: St. Paul, Santa Fe, San Francisco, San Antonio, Santa Cruz, San Fernando, San Jose, San Diego, San Angelo, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, and St. Petersburg to name a few. There's a Palestine, TX; a Trinidad (Trinity), CO; a Las Cruces (The Crosses) NM; and a Sacramento (Sacrament), CA. Need I go on? No! Any honest person will get the picture. America has a religious heritage, and that heritage is Christian.
But, the Christmas/Christian haters will whine, what about all the non-Christians in the US now? Shouldn't we be inclusive of them? Before you answer that question, recognize that it's a false question. Words like "inclusive", "diversity", and "multicultural" are increasingly becoming nothing more than euphemisms for anti-Christian. Think about it. What religion is always the one that's silenced, censored, or suppressed in the name of inclusion, diversity, or multiculturalism? Christianity! So when the diversity police come around, let them know you're on to them and you're not about to disown your own heritage to make any body else feel "included".
Non-Christians who come to this country need to understand what kind of a country they're entering. The burden is on them to accomodate themselves to our history, culture, and heritage. Christian Americans have no obligation to disown who they are or deny the supreme role they played in the creation of this nation. Recognizing this fact doesn't mean discriminating against non-Christians or denying them the freedom to practice their religion, or lack thereof. It does mean not asking Christians to submit to policies that would be instantly acknowledged as discriminatory if applied to non-Christians. And to those non-Christians who insist on being hypersensitive about anything Christian in the public square, I say, thank whatever god(s) you serve that America was founded by Christians who believed in religious freedom for all, for that's why you can live here as equals without subscribing to the dominant faith; I doubt that's the case in countries controlled by people who follow your religion.
Merry Christmas
6 comments:
Thanks for the post, I continue to say "Merry Christmas". :)
Merry Christmas!
-Matt
Hey! A couple weeks ago you asked me to read a couple of your posts and I got a chance to do that tonight. I just read "Answering Jason" from November 13th. I appreciated what you had to say especially the part about it being unfair that Christians get singled out for imposing their beliefs on others. We all bring our worldviews and presuppostions to the table.
You said "I now see how easy it is for some people reading that to assume that I'm a Christian, but I'm not. I describe myself as a Christian sympathizer, a traditionalist, someone who is unchurched but not anti-church. The reason I don't call myself a Christian is that I don't feel myself to be "saved" as Christians would understand that term. However, I do believe most, if not all, of the fundamental doctrines of the historic Christian faith, and I believe in Biblical morality."
That paragraph is what was most interesting to me. Let me ask you this, how do you think I as Christian would understand the term "saved"? And what led you to accept Biblical morality but not the being "saved" part? I'm not challenging you to defend yourself. I'm just interested in hearing more about how you arrived at the place you are now. Thanks. Have a great weekend!
Jeff
By the way, I was going to email you about this but I couldn't find an email address for you. If you'd rather reply by email its pursuing_truth@comcast.net.
Thank you for your commment, ben laden. By the way, "deference" is spelled d-i-f-f-e-r-e-n-c-e. But if you really want to defer to me, go ahead!
Most of the nation's founding fathers were deists, not Christians. So you did not found this nation.
Even if this nation was founded by Christians, that doesn't give you the right to push non-Christians around. If I remember correctly the Constitution has something called the "establishment clause."
Dear, sweet, Lord Ness! Clearly the product of the liberal public school system.
Most of the Founding Fathers were NOT deists. Read their writings instead of your textbooks. But even if they were deists, their deism was rooted in Christianity, and the colonial population at large was definitely Christian--97% Protestant, 2% Catholic--so Christians did found America.
Now to "push[ing] non-Christians around". How is recognizing our heritage, honoring our culture, and remaining true to our history, pushing anyone around? The folks who are being pushed around are Christians; remember, nobody is trying to ban Happy Hanukkah.
And as for the establishment clause well, it's just that, the establishment clause, NOT the erase-every-vestige-of-Christianity-from-the-public-square clause. You should take note that the establishment clause is directed to CONGRESS, not the public, and is limiting how Congress can use its legislative power vis-a-vis religion. This suggests that, in the Founders' minds, the "establishment of religion" had to do with enacting laws, not with expressing religion in the public square. After all, the establishment clause is followed by the free exercise clause, something you liberals love to forget.
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