11
Dec
And there are articles all over both sides of the spectrum about the so-called War on Christmas. You all know that I am stark raving conservative and there likely isn’t a liberal bone in my body. Sure there are Libertarian bones in there that may seem liberal to some at first glance but you can trust me when I say that morally I am not a liberal. So when it comes to this issue many folks who consider themselves to have the same values as I disagree with my stance. I also disagree with the liberals vies on this issue and I’ll touch on that first before tearing up the opinions of the so-called right wingers.
First and foremost the liberals need to realize that there is no freedom from religion anywhere in any document regarding the founding of this country. It doesn’t exist. What does exist is freedom of religion and by trying to force government entities to take down Nativity scenes you are stifling the expression of a religion. It happens to be my religion but it honestly doesn’t matter to me. I do not agree with forcing any entity attached to the government in some manner to not display Christmas/Nativity decorations. This harkens back to the idea that someone might be offended or feel like religion is being forced upon them. I couldn’t care less about anyone’s feelings on the matter. Feelings should be minded in most situations but when some bleeding heart with white guilt gets offended because someone else might be offended we have taken it too far. The answer is not to disallow Christmas decoration but rather to allow decorations for the other holidays celebrated around this time. My solution is to allow civic groups a portion of city property, for instance, to decorate in the manner in which they see fit and have it subsidized by the city in some manner. This way whatever group needs to feel all warm and fuzzy can display their holiday spirit. No-one’s freedom of religion is trampled, everyone gets to advertise their holiday, and all the white guilt is assuaged.
Left up to me I wouldn’t allow Kwanzaa because it’s a made up holiday less than 50 years old. It was made up by a black nationalist so his followers wouldn’t be celebrating a “white holiday”. The inventor, Karenga, was sent to prison only five years after creating this “holiday” after torturing two women with a soldering iron, a vise, and other implements. He tried to make it seem like a tradition with deep African roots but didn’t manage to be convincing. The official website for this holiday claims that it’s roots are in “the first harvest celebrations of Africa,” and are recorded in African history as far back as ancient Egypt and Nubia”. What they don’t manage to explain is why a harvest celebration would be held at the time of winter solstice or what crops would be harvested. The formula Karenga came up for celebrating involves two ears of maize which is entirely a new world crop and wasn’t found in Africa in ancient times. Even his choice for the official language of the holiday, Swahili, is insane. It’s only spoken by about 7% of the population of Africa and the regions he claims to have drawn the roots of this holiday from have been, and were, Arabic speaking regions. In fact Arabic is spoken by the majority of the African population today. So given my druthers I would tell any organization who wanted to put a Kinara on display that they could just pretend the Chanukah Menorah was theirs since the rest of their holiday is made up as well.
But things aren’t left up to and they shouldn’t be. If someone wants to put up decorations for a holiday created by a racist in order to segregate his own people from those with pigment in their skin then so be it. After all they have as much freedom to believe in Kwanzaa as those that celebrate the ancient religion Gerald Gardner made up in 1950s or the religion based on a secret decoder ring (glasses) whose syphilitic leader thought a fully enclosed body of salt water was the promised land. This is America after all and you are free to even make up your own religion if you want. You are not free to tell me I can’t practice mine in public. I am tolerant of other religions. I have many friends who are not Christians and there’s never any static between us. However tolerance doesn’t mean I have to hide my religion. It means I must accept that in a free country others are allowed to show their religion as well. The liberal idea that anything related to Christianity must be hidden in the bedroom while Muslims students are allowed to leave class to pray is just tripe. Chesterton said is best when he said “These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.” Those words are as true today as they were when he uttered them
And now for those who think Christianity is under attack! If you believe you are being oppressed in the US because of Christianity or that Christianity is under attack then you are a moron. End of statement. If you think you are under attack because some meanie head doesn’t want city hall to put out a plastic baby Jesus then you have too much damn time on your hands. In Jun of this year a Christian man was raped and murdered for refusing to convert to Islam, in Feb Islamic lawyers demand Christian convert be killed for apostasy, and more and more all over the world. If you think, for a minute, you are being persecuted because the Nativity scene won’t be a city hall this year, the one with special new lighted virgin May, then you have issues. Liberals are not trying to stomp out Christmas. They are not hostile towards us. They simply, and falsely believe, that since Christians are the majority in this country and have done bad things in the past we have to make up for everything bad any Christian has even done and hide our religion in shame. They truly believe in equality by force and are taking steps to make sure everyone feels equal. They are wrong simply because it doesn’t matter if every feels equal it only matters if they are, in reality, treated equally. So they treat Christians with disdain to try and make other religions feel more equal and in doing so violate their own claimed principles or justice and equality. They are not hostile, by and large, they are merely wrong.
Don’t bother citing some random whackjob who is actually hostile to Christianity. They do exist and I know they do. But they do not comprise the vast majority of the misled lefties who do things that get called persecution by American Christians. Hell the right has Michael Savage and he’s totally off his rocked. The left has their crazies as well. Bringing them up won’t prove Christians are persecuted in America. Until we have lawyers asking to have people put to death for being Christian, mobs burning Christians in the streets, Christians sent to re-education camps, and so on then shut your whining Western pie-holes. You are making the rest of us look like crybabies.
So ‘Tis the season and as such I encourage you to treat everyone equally. Say Merry Christmas if that’s your thing and accept a Blessed Be if you get one in return. Don’t try and not offend but try and love as we are commanded to do. Act as you want to be treated. If you want love and respect this season then show it in everything you do. Equality is a very loving goal this season when we celebrate the birth of a man who treated whores, tax collectors, pagans, and fishermen with the same respect he gave the high priests of his own religion. So whether you believe in the story or not treat everyone with the love showed by Christ even if they want to put baby Jesus on the courthouse lawn or want to keep Jesus out of city hall.
I may not write much the rest of the year as we are wrapping up projects at work, have household things to deal with, and it’s just pretty crazy right now. But I wanted to get this up because I saw another American Christian whining about persecution and I knew I couldn’t make it through the season without a little rant on the subject. Take this all with a grain of salt and go forth and do holiday type things…
Comments
Romeo Sid Vicious on 12.14.2009
Well the Google Friend Connect plugin I installed for the comments system is apparently broken so no-one has been to comment. I did get one person who responded via twitter and the points are interesting enough I want to respond to them here.
WhiskeyT: @romeosidvicious I can’t comment on yer site from work but I will when I get home. Interesting post. I love politics and music.
@romeosidvicious Seems like I can’t comment at your site at all but i’ll give you the basic breakdown here…..(cont)
@romeosidvicious ..#1 I think you misinterpret “liberals” intent..(cont)
@romeosidvicious ..#2 Many (myself included) do see any State sponsored religious activities as a violation of the First Amendment
@romeosidvicious ..#3 I have never heard the history of Kwanzza until before, now I kinda want to see what the story is.
@romeosidvicious #4 Most Christians I know (manymanymany) do feel that there is a gradual erosion of their rights…
@romeosidvicious #5 …but I think that’s malarkey for many of the reasons you site as well as other facts
@romeosidvicious #6 A little bit of rational discussion between both sides would help a lot.
@romeosidvicious #7 I have enjoyed several of your mixes and your reviews on 9b – thanks.
WhiskeyT is much better at 140 characters than I
So I am responding here.
#1: I don’t know if I am or not. I think liberals truly believe that equality is an important goal and that their intentions are good. I think the execution is badly done in that true equality would be merit based (think quotas in hiring) or in the lack of measurable merit (think holiday decorations) that equal recognition for each segment or no recognition at all is equality. What we have now, and what creates animosity, is that the current push is shove down one segment in preference to the others. It doesn’t just happen in the holiday arena. My point was that the intent comes from an ideal that I can agree with, and that is equality, but I cannot stomach the execution. If that isn’t where the current practices around the holidays stem from then I am willing to be wrong so please school me.
#2: I think I draw the line at a different place than you but we do have agreement. I don’t think that allowing the expression of religion is a problem. For instance I don’t think that praying before a football game is an issue as long as whatever religions are present are offered the same chance and no-one is required to participate. For me the line is drawn at requirement and not at allowing practice. If words mean the same thing to you and me then I mostly agree with you. I don’t believe the state can sanction religion, any religion, but based on the same amendment you base your stance I believe we have to balance that with the state no prohibiting the free exercise thereof. I feel we have gone to far with the establishment side of the phrase and ignored the free exercise side. I have no problem with allowing Islamic students the ability to leave class for prayer as long as other student, be they Christian, Jewish, Wiccan, or members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is allowed to also practice his religion in the same manner. I could do a whole post on this subject alone and I just might but for now I think my point is more clear than it was in the article and I look forward to your response.
#3: To me it’s a joke to be perfectly honest. Even more of a joke than the ancient religion started in the 1960s in Britain. Any holiday started so that group X wouldn’t have to celebrate the holiday of group Y will never garner any respect from me. While I don’t respect it and frequently mock it I would also stand and fight for their right to celebrate it as they see fit. I know I didn’t make that point well in my post but I would like to make it here now. I would not stand for the government shunning the holiday even if they cited the reasons I just gave. No matter how stupid I think something is I will defend the right to believe it and practice it in this country. I have oft defended the free speech rights of boneheads (Nazi Skins) because while their speech is disgusting as long as they don’t cross the line into inciting violence it is important their freedom remain.
It was HL Mencken who said: “The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.” And it holds true today. It holds true even if you replace scoundrels with stupidity. So no matter how much of an arrogant arse I act about things like Kwanzaa I would still fight and die for anyone’s right to practice them. I might fight and die while deriding the practice over my shoulder but I wouldn’t back down until the freedom was secure.
#4, #5, #6: I think what a lot of professed Christians see as an erosion of their rights is frankly not at all what they make it out to be. While I am about as right wing as it gets morally I see a difference between rights and stuff you were allowed to get away for decades. Even Christ said to render unto Caesar what is his. Most of the so called moral majority want to be able to practice their religion out loud and in public and not have to see anyone who disagrees with them. They don’t want public discourse. And I don’t agree with them at all. In fact I think most of them, at least the ones who make the news, are lunatics. The fact is that if you get the freedom to practice your religion out loud and in public then every other religion gets the same as well as the freedom to disagree with you out loud and in public. If there is disagreement it doesn’t mean your rights are being taken away but rather that someone else is merely practising theirs. If your faith can’t stand scrutiny or your beliefs can’t handle not having the neon baby Jesus on the lawn of city hall then maybe you need to examine your faith a little more closely and let others worry about the decorations.
The only problem with the rational discourse idea is that the leaders on both sides of this issue refuse to be rational and the general public simply follow them like sheep. That won’t change unless there is real persecution in this country and thankfully we aren’t anywhere near that and I doubt we ever will be. So while it’s a nice thought I don’t think it’s realistic. Both sides are going to keep sticking their fingers in their ears and chanting “nah nah nah I can’t hear you” until the cows come home and no matter how many times folks like you and me discuss these things in a rational matter it will never become the main thrust of either side. Westerners are sheep, by and large, because we have it so damn good. If our biggest “erosion” of religious freedom involves not being able to place plastic icons on city property then we’ve got it pretty damn good and to say otherwise makes one a moron in my opinion.
#7: Awesome! Nice to know you have enjoyed my drivel. Keep comin’ back it works if you work it or something along those lines.