The War on Christmas and Christianity Continues in 2009!A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
OK, let me make it as clear as I am able -- right up front! I am not interested in “multiculturalism” and I am even less interested in inclusivity.” I am an Isolationist at heart, but a realist… out of practicality.
Having cleared the air, I can get on with these few comments.
It is time for America to celebrate Christmas. For those of the Christian community it is a grand time of celebrating the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ, from whose name the word Christmas, or “Christ Mass,” is derived. I am of this community.
I care nothing for the celebration of anything else. I care that you have the right to celebrate Hanukkah, or that newly invented secular holiday for Afro-centric African Americans, Kwanzaa. You are guaranteed that right by the Constitution, which was, itself, guaranteed by Christians.
I know, I know! I can see the “comments box” filling up even as I write this. That’s OK. Just keep it clean.
In the year 2009 one would have to be a disconnected, isolated, idiot to believe that Christmas is not under attack in the western world, especially in the United States.
If you are a regular reader of my scribbling then you already know that I believe that Christians founded America as a Christian country. As a Christian country we are tolerant of other religions. That does not mean that individual American citizens must approve of any particular religion or practice thereof. In a Christian country a citizen is not compelled to be a Christian or a subscriber to any religion, for that matter. That right was guaranteed all Americans in that aforementioned Constitution. And that, Dear Reader, in my humble opinion, is where we mis-stepped. That “right” we celebrate, and hold so dear, has come back to bite us on our collective “Christian butts.”
Any antagonist, worth his salt, uses his opponent’'s weakness against him. The opponents of Christianity, no slackers they, have learned to use our weakness of tolerance for other religions, or no religion, against the Christians of America, indeed, in much of the world.
Christian symbols are being relegated to the closets, and basements, of public buildings. They are not to be displayed on the walls of, or grounds of, said public buildings such as, for instance, courthouses.
Put up a Crèche scene, in honor of Christmas, in the town square, and you’'d better have a Menorah, a Christmas tree, a Santa Claus, a Kwanzaa something or other, and on and on. The idea is simply to dilute Christmas in a mass of other religious, and secular, celebrations and lessen its influence on the average American. The more timid among us are even afraid to utter that time honored “greeting: "Merry Christmas.”"
No more Christmas Break for our public schools. It’s now the “Winter Break, ” a phrase reminiscent of the pagans of Western Europe. Gone is the Christmas tree in many of those same schools.
Now, I could go on, and on, citing example after example of the battles being waged all across America against Christmas and, collectively, Christians.
Currently, we are in a worldwide war with Islam. Oh, you may argue, we are at war with only the fundamentalist Islamists! I beg to differ. Again, in my opinion -- this is a war between Islam and Christianity. The Muslims know this. Only those of us of the Western Christian countries have deluded ourselves into believing we are in a war with some splinter group of Islam. Hopefully, we will awaken to this fact before it is to late to recover from our mistake and take the battle, for our very existence, to the enemies of Christianity.
Meanwhile, in America, we have our hands full dealing with our own internal enemies. “The War on Christmas” is just a symptom of the greater war on Christianity. Until we recognize that fact, and begin to fight back, we will continue to lose our Christian symbols, our Christian holidays, and eventually our practice of the Christian faith.
I was thinking, as I wrote these words, that there must have been some squinty-eyed old scribe hidden away in a semi-darkened “scriptorium”, somewhere beneath the streets of ancient Rome, scratching out similar words as these while Christians were being gored, and mauled, and torn limb from limb, in the amphitheatres such as the Coliseum above his lowly hovel.
Somehow, every attack against Christians has served to strengthen the Christian Church and insure her survival. One doesn’'t have to be a believer to acknowledge the work of a Supreme Being in the dissemination of what we Christians call “The Good News” or “The Gospel.” And yet, down through the ages, many Christians, like this scribe, feel driven to denounce, in our writings, the evil forces at work against the Christian church.
As one who has studied the scriptures, I know the church will be whittled down until there will be only a remnant of the followers of Christ left upon his return. We witness the “whittling down” process everyday in reports of attacks upon the Christian faith in the news media of the world. And yet, – I feel a force, deep within me, urging me to proclaim to all who read these words that no matter the size of the remaining remnant, the Christian Church WILL survive. No matter the odds, the ultimate force for good in this world will continue to feed the hungry, heal the sick, lift up the fallen, and spread the good news of the birth of a savior in a little Middle Eastern town called Bethlehem, some 2,000 years ago. Since that remarkable night, men and women have been unceasingly spreading the news of His arrival and the message He brought of “"Peace, Good Will Toward Men."”
Men and women of the Christian faith, in the modern world, may again be relegated to “the catacombs” to practice their Christian faith. But just as their ancient counterparts, they WILL keep the faith. In the face of all odds they will not falter and they will not fail.
And so, from my own little scriptorium, as I write in the wee hours of the morning, please allow me to be among the first to wish you, and your family, a MERRY CHRISTMAS!
J. D. Longstreet
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