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Christmas in an Anti-Christian Age
Townhall.com ^ | December 25, 2012 | Pat Buchanan

Posted on 12/25/2012 4:59:42 AM PST by Kaslin

For two millennia, the birth of Christ has been seen as the greatest event in world history. The moment Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem, God became man, and eternal salvation became possible.

This date has been the separation point of mankind's time on earth, with B.C. designating the era before Christ, and A.D., anno domino, in the Year of the Lord, the years after. And how stands Christianity today?

"Christianity is in danger off being wiped out in its biblical heartlands," says the British think tank Civitas.

In Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria, Christians face persecution and pogroms. In Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, conversion is a capital offense. In a century, two-thirds of all the Christians have vanished from the Islamic world.

In China, Christianity is seen as a subversive ideology of the West to undermine the regime.

In Europe, a century ago, British and German soldiers came out of the trenches to meet in no-man's land to sing Christmas carols and exchange gifts. It did not happen in 1915, or ever again.

In the century since, all the Western empires have vanished. All of their armies and navies have melted away. All have lost their Christian faith. All have seen their birthrates plummet. All their nations are aging, shrinking and dying, and all are witnessing invasions from formerly subject peoples and lands.

In America, too, the decline of Christianity proceeds.

While conservatives believe that culture determines politics, liberals understand politics can change culture.

The systematic purging of Christian teachings and symbols from our public schools and public square has produced a growing population -- 20 percent of the nation, 30 percent of the young -- who answer "none" when asked about their religious beliefs and affiliations.

In the lead essay in the Book Review of Sunday's New York Times, Paul Elie writes of our "post-Christian" fiction, where writers with "Christian convictions" like Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor are a lost tribe.

"Where has the novel of belief gone?" he asks.

Americans understand why Mao's atheist heirs who have lost their Marxist-Leninist faith and militants Islamists fear and detest the rival belief system of Christianity. But do they understand the animus that lies behind the assault on their faith here at home?

In a recent issue of New Oxford Review, Andrew Seddon ("The New Atheism: All the Rage") describes a "Reason Rally" in Washington, D.C., a "coming out" event sponsored by atheist groups. Among the speakers was Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins, author of "The God Delusion," who claims that "faith is an evil precisely because it requires no justification and brooks no argument."

Christians have been infected by a "God virus," says Dawkins. They are no longer rational beings. Atheists should treat them with derisory contempt. "Mock Them!" Dawkins shouted. "Ridicule them! In public!"

In "The End of Faith," atheist Sam Harris wrote that "some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people."

"Since the New Atheists believe that religion is evil," notes Seddon, "that it 'poisons everything,' in (Christopher) Hitchens' words -- it doesn't take much effort to see that Harris is referring to religions and the people who follow them."

Now since atheists are still badly outnumbered in America and less well-armed than the God-and-Country boys, and atheists believe this is the only life they have, atheist suggestions to "kill people" of Christian belief is probably a threat Christians need not take too seriously.

With reference to Dawkins' view that the Christian faith "requires no justification and brooks no argument," Seddon makes a salient point.

While undeniable that Christianity entails a belief in the supernatural, the miraculous -- God became man that first Christmas, Christ raised people from the dead, rose himself on the first Easter Sunday and ascended into heaven 40 days later -- consider what atheists believe.

They believe that something came out of nothing, that reason came from irrationality, that a complex universe and natural order came out of randomness and chaos, that consciousness came from non-consciousness and that life emerged from non-life.

This is a bridge too far for the Christian for whom faith and reason tell him that for all of this to have been created from nothing is absurd; it presupposes a Creator.

Atheists believe, Seddon writes, that "a multiverse (for which there is no experimental or observational evidence) containing an inconceivably large number of universes spontaneously created itself."

Yet, Hitchens insists, "our belief is not a belief."

Nonsense. Atheism requires a belief in the unbelievable.

Christians believe Christ could raise people from the dead because he is God. That is faith. Atheists believe life came out of non-life. That, too, is faith. They believe in what their god, science, cannot demonstrate, replicate or prove. They believe in miracles but cannot identify, produce or describe the miracle worker.

At Christmas, pray for Hitchens, Harris, Dawkins and the other lost souls at that Reason Rally.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: antichristian; atheists; christendom; christmas; culturewar; patbuchanan; pjb; religion; secularization; trends; waronchristmas
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1 posted on 12/25/2012 4:59:47 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

A “reason rally” with nothing to reason about is as ridiculous as a bookkeepers’ convention that refused to discuss money.


2 posted on 12/25/2012 5:06:13 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
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To: Kaslin

However, nobody should be surprised at the fickleness of the world. Being Christian was a nice meme, but like all memes of the world its heyday passed. If Christians kept on being Christian because of nothing more than what the world holds to be in vogue, they’d be in big trouble all right.

The Nativity, like anything carrying a spiritual significance in the Christian faith, means more, not less, as the world slavers its hatred at it. If Christians ever fell into the illusion that it was the world’s acclamation that gave meaning to what they believed, the reason for such an illusion is gone now.

Like Pat points out, people will believe. It’s an inextricable part of what it is to be a human. The only question is about what they will believe in. And the word “reason” is no dodge.


3 posted on 12/25/2012 5:15:22 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
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To: Kaslin

Pat fails to mention that Christianity is growing so rapidly in China that they could overtake the United States within a generation or two in total Christians. Today, there are an estimated 103 million. See analysis at this website: https://asiaharvest.org/index.php/how-many-christians-china-1/how-many-christians-china-2/

Pat fails to mention the resurgence of religion in Russia, Poland and eastern Europe — where it was ruthlessly persecuted.

Pat fails to mention the growth of Christianity in Iran and in Indonesia, where the rate of conversion from Islam to Christianity, if trends continue, will flip Indonesia to a majority Christian nation in a few generations.

The real tragedy is closer to home, where we have not fought vigorously to fend off the secularists and atheists. But, I would say we are at least winning the war on Christmas. I’ve never heard so many strangers say Merry Christmas in 20 years as I’ve heard this year.

Merry Christmas to all!


4 posted on 12/25/2012 5:20:33 AM PST by WashingtonSource
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To: WashingtonSource

When Christianity prevails it usually does so as the underdog.


5 posted on 12/25/2012 5:24:17 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
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To: Kaslin
In a century, two-thirds of all the Christians have vanished from the Islamic world.

Calling it "the Islamic world" concedes the territories.

It is Islamist dominated land, but not historically Islamic and my nation's founding fathers recognized an unalienable right to a freedom of religion. Now a foreign theocratic power (Saudi Arabia) establishes Islamic colonies in America (funding the construction of mosques and establishing immigrant communities).

It can happen here and the anti-Western "celebrate diversity" crowd are all too happy to see it happen. There is no two-way cultural exchange going on. The so called "anti-war" activists got into a hissyfit when some religious organizations tried to fill a void in post-Saddam Iraq by spreading Christianity. It was considered "cultural imperialism".

6 posted on 12/25/2012 5:28:15 AM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Kaslin
"In China, Christianity is seen as a subversive ideology of the West to undermine the regime."

Christianity has always been seen as a subversive ideology from the very beginning.

Look at the Roman Empire in the First through Third Centuries AD.

7 posted on 12/25/2012 5:38:55 AM PST by wmileo
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To: Kaslin

We don’t have to pray for Hitchens, at least. He has gone to meet his maker ... or his fellow chemicals.


8 posted on 12/25/2012 5:42:59 AM PST by svxdave (Life is too short to wear a fake Rolex.)
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To: Kaslin
In "The End of Faith," atheist Sam Harris wrote that "some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people."

Yet one of the New Nitwits' chief [stated] objections to Christianity is that people were killed in its name, and they almost always bring up the Inquisition. (Of course, the millions killed in the name of atheistic communism are the fault of "religion", because communism is a religion, according to Dawkins.)

Yet both Dawkins and Harris make to clear that they're willing to entertain brutal police-state repression, even (in Harris' case) making Christian belief a capital offense. They're the stereotypical "It's not tyranny when we do it" hypocrites.

9 posted on 12/25/2012 5:49:19 AM PST by Campion ("Social justice" begins in the womb)
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To: Kaslin
It's strange. Almost everyone I talk to says the same thing: "It doesn't feel like Christmas." There are likely a number of reasons for this including the crass commercialization of Christmas (although all these people also tell me they are cutting back on gifts this year).

Something is coming. We have seen some very bad things occur recently. I don't need to list them all, but I live 20 minutes from Newtown CT. Our nation is immersed in a moral fever swamp, yet we try to act like nothing is happening. The monster that rears up from this swamp carries a portent of a kind of horror not seen in history.

The Bible lists these terrible things, yet we labor to push them from our minds as if they are afar off. Clearly, there is a stirring in our spirits telling us that the time in very near - too close for comfort. Thus, no comfort and joy is to be seen in the land.

I'm sorry to seem so negative on Christmas, but it just doesn't feel like Christmas this year. I am reminded of King Theoden in Tolkein's The Two Towers. Sauron is on the move and he sadly wonders, "How did it come to this?"

We know the King is returning and our hearts must be prepared for Him and Him alone. Perhaps, it is just that there is no room at the Inn for Santa Claus when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is also on the move.

10 posted on 12/25/2012 5:49:44 AM PST by Dr. Thorne ("How long, O Lord, holy and true?" - Rev. 6:10)
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To: Kaslin

The problems for Christianity today are in truth less from those outside of Christianity that despise it, than from the internal weaknesses the various Christian sects have adopted.

Those outside of Christianity that sought to destroy it have in many times in the past been far more ferocious than they are today. Attila, Tamerlane, Suleiman (who bragged that he had razed 30,000 churches), and Stalin, just lead the pack.

But Christianity has far worse threats from within. This is so pronounced that several churches have or will likely have schisms. Heterodoxy and outright heresy runs amok, and often those who embrace the founding spiritual doctrines of churches are displaced from their own churches leadership, by those who hold these beliefs in contempt.

And with such profound weakness evidenced on their part, is it any surprise that the enemies of Christianity see it as an opportunity to destroy Christianity?


11 posted on 12/25/2012 6:01:10 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Pennies and Nickels will NO LONGER be Minted as of 1/1/13 - Tim Geithner, US Treasury Sect)
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To: Dr. Thorne

Love, family, good food, skimpy on presents but that’s okay.

Yep, feels like Christmas to me!!

Perhaps singing a Christmas carol or two will help.

Yes, hard times are coming. Fortify your mind—best preparation.


12 posted on 12/25/2012 6:07:53 AM PST by YepYep (We've just GOT to love Jesus enough to LISTEN to Him, and Do what He Says)
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To: Kaslin
Christians have been infected by a "God virus," says Dawkins. They are no longer rational beings. Atheists should treat them with derisory contempt. "Mock Them!" Dawkins shouted. "Ridicule them! In public!"

Atheist supremacists need to be branded as such and their rhetoric clearly labelled "hate speech". It isn't about their "own comfort in their ideology", it is about their total disrespect for the Christian faith (and little outward hate directed at Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Scientology, etc.).

They hate first and try to defend that hate as afterthought. I suspect some are still angry at their parents.

13 posted on 12/25/2012 6:43:46 AM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: WashingtonSource
I’ve never heard so many strangers say Merry Christmas in 20 years as I’ve heard this year.

Yep, and I made sure to return the greeting.

14 posted on 12/25/2012 6:47:36 AM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: a fool in paradise

I’m in New Jersey.. I said ‘Merry Christmas’ to all the store clerks.. Only one felt comfortable saying ‘Merry Christmas’ back.. The rest said “Happy Holidays”.


15 posted on 12/25/2012 7:12:43 AM PST by DivineMomentsOfTruth ("Give me Liberty or I'll stand up and get it for myself!")
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To: Dr. Thorne

It’s strange. Almost everyone I talk to says the same thing: “It doesn’t feel like Christmas.” There are likely a number of reasons for this including the crass commercialization of Christmas “

I noticed it in 2005. Our carols used to be everywhere this time of year, but now it’s very rare to experience “Silent Night,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,””It Came Upon A Midnight Clear,””Oh Come All Ye Faithful,”or “Oh Holy Night.”

Now the generic word “Holiday” replaces Christmas in advertising and is repeated endlessly. I have to mute the TV during football games. Hearing, “This holiday,” “holiday list,””holiday tree” and “the big holiday” screams and shrieks heartless atheism to me.

Political correctness is a religion. Now they have turned the word “Christmas” into a profanity that can barely be spoken.


16 posted on 12/25/2012 7:26:37 AM PST by Luke21
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To: WashingtonSource
Merry Christmas to all!

Indeed!

Merry Christmas FRiends!!

17 posted on 12/25/2012 7:35:10 AM PST by eldoradude (Let's water the tree of liberty with THEIR blood...)
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To: Kaslin
They believe that something came out of nothing, that reason came from irrationality, that a complex universe and natural order came out of randomness and chaos, that consciousness came from non-consciousness and that life emerged from non-life.

In other words, they do not believe in the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

Some time back, I read an article where the current Pope advised for Christians to display symbols of their religion openly. i.e.,  if you wear a cross, don't tuck it under your shirt. While I'm not Catholic, I like the idea, and think it both wise and advisable if you can.

18 posted on 12/25/2012 7:57:29 AM PST by zeugma (Those of us who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
"When Christianity prevails it usually does so as the underdog."

And what did you expect to happen when the "Turn the Other Cheek" concept meets "Death to the Infidel"?

19 posted on 12/25/2012 8:38:25 AM PST by DJ Taylor (Once again our country is at war, and once again the Democrats have sided with our enemy.)
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To: wmileo
"Christianity has always been seen as a subversive ideology from the very beginning.

Not always. In this country it started when subversives banned God and the word of Jesus from our schools and replaced it with The Communist Manifesto and the word of Karl Marx.

20 posted on 12/25/2012 8:45:10 AM PST by DJ Taylor (Once again our country is at war, and once again the Democrats have sided with our enemy.)
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