CO: Christmas in Colorado; All Hell Breaking Out. by Blogicus Maximus
Its Christmas time in the mile high city and all hell is breaking loose.
Things began to unravel last week when Denver Mayor Hickenlooper, a Democrat, decided to ban the words "Merry Christmas" from the city and county building in downtown Denver. "Merry Christmas," due to its offensive nature, will be replaced with "Happy Holidays."
This seemed like a surprising misstep for the mayor who had been riding high after some major victories during the election, his party managed to win both houses of the state legislature for the first time since Kennedy beat Nixon. He also favored a massive expansion of both light and heavy rail, dubbed FasTracks, which won a surprisingly strong victory. He also won approval for a new citizen review board that will assist in the oversight of the police force. After all these recent victories it seemed strange the Mayor Hickenlooper would spend his political capital by removing the "Merry Christmas" over the city and county building, especially when a giant nativity scene is still sitting on the building's steps.
Now comes the news that the non-profit group that runs the Parade of Lights, a Christmas, or should we say Holiday Parade, that is celebrating its thirtieth birthday this year, has banned a local Christian Church from participating in the event.
As this story begins to get national attention, it rapidly is evolving into a major public relations fiasco for Denver and Colorado. Many new questions have been raised, such as why keep the nativity scene? If "Merry Christmas" could offend someone, then surely a nativity scene on public property could send a non-christian into a panic. Why ban a Christian Church's parade float? If the Christian themed float, with its Merry Christmas message and Christmas carols cannot participate because of its "religious theme" then one must ask why the "Two Sprit Society's" float, which honors homosexual American Indians as "holy people," or the float with the lion dance, which is a tradition of the Chinese New Year?
Overall, this rapidly expanding story seems to be a no-win situation for Denver and its once seemingly unstoppable mayor, who now is being called "Scroogenlooper" among some circles.
Ping
Notice that he doesn't refer to Chanukah in a religious way either, but rather a "celebration of light, freedom and peace". Nice secular little holiday for shopping, just like Christm...I mean, Winter Holiday.
No christain persecution here folks, so just smile and move along. END SARCASM!!
It seems the problem is that they are trying to dis-associate the month of December as the month we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ, the fact is that Chanukah and the Birth of Jesus didn't happen this month but we both honor these 2 holidays this month.
Chanukah is Dec 7th a historical and important event for the Jewish people, however CHRISTMAS IMHO is for EVERYONE a time that people might be a bit kinder, friendlier, humble and might look up to the sky with gratitude to Almighty GOD that he loved us human beings so much that he gave us his Son to pay the penalty of sinful people so that WE ALL have an opportunity to live with him for eternity.
This world is one big Train Station we are waiting for that train to take us to our final destination and hopefully we all board the one where Jesus Christ is the conductor..
Hsppy Chanukah to all our Jewish freeper friends!
Homosexual Indians are holy people??? Bwahahahahaa did someone spell that wrong? should it be holey people and in brown holey? Good gooogamooga the worlds gone nuts.
I wouldnt call Homosexual Indians holy people I would call them queers, why get racial? One name fits them all.
...next to the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado building.
Note that this is not city-owned or -operated property.
Nobody here in Merrimack is complaining about the creche on the lawn of the local Catholic church, the key aspect being that it is on the lawn of the church, not the town hall.
Hickenlooper is finally showing his true colors. He kinda ran as a conservative (ie: he was going to slim down the city gov't, make parking meters free on certain days for downtown shopping, etc). Since that time, he has endorsed Kerry for pres and banned any tiny reference to Christianity.
I'm moving. I miss the suburbs.
BTTT
Ping
Denver bans words 'Merry Christmas' from traditional downtown parade of lights
A lump of coal in Denver's stocking (for banning the term "Christmas")
Latinos should flood his office with letters in Spanish and emotional calls to his office, in Spanish or even broken English, 'to restore the great Hispanic holiday (also loved by millions of others worldwide) of "Navidad (Nativity)" or "Christmas" to official Denver. To not do so is a hate crime, insulting the largest group of new immigrants to Colorado, for whom this is a central holiday', etc. etc.
John Lickenpooper.
Sorry...had to do it.
F***ing hypocrisy alert!!!
Oh that some one would hem him in with tons of reindeer manure.
If Christians in Denver take this censorship like sheep, then they only have themselves to blame for the setback for religious expression. They ought to do every single thing that the city has banned. They MUST drive a Manger float in the parade route, especially if they risk arrest. I dare the city of Denver to arrest those Chritstians and dismantle their Manger float on national TV. Please do. American fury will shock them and give us a new rallying cry for 2006/2008. We need to take a page from the left's protest and confrontation techniques. Unlike the left, most Americans support our beliefs and will rally to our side--IF WE WOULD ONLY FIGHT!
Vote with your wallets - and tell the local merchants why you won't be doing your Christmas shopping there...
Saturnalia may have been responsible for the pageantry of our midwinter festival, but it's Mithraism
[www.uvm.edu/~classics/life/holiday.html] that seems to have inspired certain symbolic religious elements of Christmas. Mithraism arose in the Mediterranean world at the same time as Christianity, either imported from Iran, as Franz Cumont believed, or as a new religion which borrowed the name Mithras from the Persians, as the Congress of Mithraic Studies suggested in 1971.
Mithraism radiated from India where there is evidence of its practice from 1400 B.C. Mitra was part of the Hindu pantheon and Mithra was a minor Zooroastrian deity, the god of the airy light between heaven and earth. He was also a military general in Chinese mythology .
The soldiers' god, even in Rome (although the faith was embraced by male emperors, farmers, bureaucrats, merchants, and slaves, as well as soldiers), demanded a high standard of behavior, “temperance, self-control, and compassion -- even in victory”. Thus, Tertullian chides his fellow Christians for unbecoming behavior: “Are you not ashamed, my fellow soldiers of Christ, that you will be condemned, not by Christ, but by some soldier of Mithras?”
The comparison of Mithraists and Christians is not coincidental. December 25 was Mithras' birthday before it was Jesus'. The Online Mithraic Faith Newsletter [no longer available] says:
“Since earliest history, the Sun has been celebrated with rituals by many cultures when it began it's journey into dominance after it's apparent weakness during winter. The origin of these rites, Mithrasists believe, is this proclamation at the dawn of human history by Mithras commanding His followers to observe such rites on that day to celebrate the birth of Mithras, the Invincible Sun.”
But the actual choice of December 25 for Christmas was made under the Emperor Aurelian because this was the date of the Winter Solstice and was the day devotees of Mithras celebrated the dies natalis solis invicti (birthday of the invincible sun).
Mithraism, like Christianity, offers salvation to its adherents. Mithras was born into the world to save humanity from evil. Both figures ascended in human form, Mithras to wield the sun chariot, Christ to Heaven. The following summarizes the aspects of Mithraism that are also found in Christianity.
“Mithras, the sun-god, was born of a virgin in a cave on December 25, and worshipped on Sunday, the day of the conquering sun. He was a savior-god who rivaled Jesus in popularity. He died and was resurrected in order to become a messenger god, an intermediary between man and the good god of light, and the leader of the forces of righteousness against the dark forces of the god evil.”
- Pagan Origins of Christmas
May those who elected this maggot, become the rotting meat upon which he dines.