That Most Evil of Holidays

(A speech from a progressive politician in Anywhere, USA)

Attention, everyone! I have an announcement.

It’s that time of the year again—time for the most evil holiday on the calendar.

Christmas.

We must resume our annual battle to prevent the open celebration of Jesus’ birth. Our main point of attack will continue to focus on the notion that Christmas displays create hostile environments for non-believers. Playing the victim card continues to work well. We’ve been able to virtually eliminate Nativity scenes from the public sphere, and we’ve white-washed the term Christmas tree and replaced it with the conventional Holiday tree. Public schools have proven invaluable. Christmas concerts have been replaced by Winter Festivals. Children may sing about Kwanzaa and even Hanukkah, but the only "Christmas" songs allowed are those generic winter songs about sleigh-riding, Santa, and winter wonderlands.

What is that you’re saying in the back of the room? The majority of Americans want Christmas decorations publically displayed? Forget them. We who are offended by Jesus have the final say . . . even if there are only a limited number of us. When you have as many supporters in the judiciary as we have, the number of followers is irrelevant. If those Jesus Freaks want to celebrate his birthday then let them go to a church.

On to the next item: I have in my hand a few of the anti-Christmas strategies that have been put into effect by other towns around the nation. These are just two examples; there are many more that will be enacted over the next few weeks.

Last weekend the town of Patchogue, NY celebrated its 15^th annual boat parade. Formerly the Patchogue Christmas Boat Parade, the name was changed to the Patchogue Holiday Boat Parade because of "complaints that the use of ‘Christmas’ seemed to make the parade less inclusive". (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,443785,00.html) Fireworks by Grucci withdrew their fireworks donation to protest the change, but so what? Getting rid of the word Christmas is what matters.

"Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) administration has banned all holiday decorations from common spaces on campus and canceled a popular greeting card design contest, which is being replaced by an ugly sweater competition. In Griffin Hall, the university's giving tree for needy preschoolers has been transformed into a ‘giving garden.’" (http://www.news-press.com/article/20081125/NEWS0104/811250380/1075 )

Pretty good, right?

Yes, yes. I understand you’re frustrated because you still have to confront those offensive decorations on people’s private property. Be patient. Think about how much we’ve accomplished in just the past 10 years. Eventually we’ll be able to concoct some law that your rights are being violated by the very sight of these hateful Christian symbols regardless of where they are displayed.

And remember to look at the total picture. Each year more people accept the minimizing of Christmas. We have succeeded in making them feel powerless to stop our onslaught. Plus, we are now rearing generations of children who are clueless as to how widespread the Christmas holiday once was. In another 20 years our followers will be legion.

Let’s meet again next week. We have much work to be done.

Donald Tremblay

Ecumenism Gone Wild

Once again we see the effects of ecumenism gone wild.

Last week as many as 20,000 Muslims attacked a Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo, Egypt, yelling slogans such as “Islam is the solution” and “No God but Allah” (http://www.christianpersecution.info/news/egypt-thousands-protest-vandalize-church-17223/). Yet despite this latest example of Christian persecution in Muslim lands, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran–head of the Catholic Church's department for interreligious dialogue–“has thanked Muslims for bringing God back into the public sphere in Europe.” (http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-36765320081128)

Ecumenists like Cardinal Tauran ignore the injustices committed in the name of Islam, regurgitating the party line that radicals don’t represent the true Islam, that Islam is a peaceful religion. Well, regardless of whether this assertion contains any truth, and there are plenty of examples proving otherwise, the reality is that many of these radicals are the same European Muslims who Cardinal Tauran is thanking. In its July/August 2005 issue, Foreign Affairs magazine spelled out how deeply Europe is infested with these extremists:

Jihadist networks span Europe from Poland to Portugal, thanks to the spread of radical Islam among the descendants of guest workers once recruited to shore up Europe's postwar. . . . The emergence of homegrown mujahideen in Europe threatens the United States as well as Europe.

(http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050701faessay84409/robert-s-leiken/europe-s-angry-muslims.html)

Ecumenists will argue that supporting Islam is necessary to combat the growing secularism that has overtaken Europe and is threatening to wipe religion from the continent. Yes, atheism is the greatest threat to the human race, as Nazism and Communism proved in the 20^th century; however, embracing the strategy that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is hypocritical--and hypocrisy disgusts the faithful and poisons their trust in Christ’s Church. It’s not coincidental that Christ continually addressed hypocrisy in his teachings. He recognized that a major reason why the children of Israel had turned away from God was because of the Pharisees’ insincerity.

Ironically, if the ecumenists continue along this path, they will be responsible for the very outcome they are fighting against: an irrelevant Church and a global rejection of Christ.

Donald Tremblay