Posted on 12/04/2004 12:13:54 PM PST by yonif
AUGUSTA -- "Happy holidays!"
Bah humbug, says Maine Christian Civic League Executive Director Michael Health.
It's "Merry Christmas," says Heath, who recently kicked off a campaign in Maine to bolster traditional greetings in lieu of more politically correct salutations.
"Tired of the secularist scrooges who are taking over Maine's cultural landscape? So are we," Heath wrote in a recent message to league members. "That is why we are teaming up with the Alliance Defense Fund to fight Scrooge-like secular intolerance this Christmas season."
Heath said he wrote the message as his part of the national Christian group's campaign. The Alliance Defense Fund is looking for cases to test in court and Heath asked his members for examples.
"There is increasing hostility toward Christians that is expressed outside the church publicly. It's something that seems to be increasing, and increasingly American people are being asked to push expressions of Christ to the margins or out of view, and this is part of that," Heath said. "Our point is, people can say 'Merry Christmas' in schools or wherever."
Heath said Friday that he received a complaint from a member alleging a teacher -- at a school he declined to identify -- had instructed students not to use "Merry Christmas," suggesting "happy holidays" instead. He said he was sending that information to alliance lawyers.
The issue has struck a nerve among Christian Civic League members, judging from their reaction to a new Alliance Defense Fund lapel pin which says: "Merry Christmas Believe It. Say It."
"They gave us 500 pins and we handed them all out in just two days without any advertising on our part, so there's a lot of concern about this," Heath said.
Some of Heath's past campaigns have been controversial. In the past year, he was criticized for suggesting Gov. John Baldacci may have "one of those imaginary gay genes" and was suspended for a month when he began an effort to identify gay legislators and state officials.
"We've got to represent diversity and be tolerant of everything except, I guess, Jesus at Christmastime," Heath said. "I see it as the opposite of that; they're being tolerant of everything except Christianity or Christ."
The Christian Civic League director said legal challenges by the American Civil Liberties Union and others over use of religious symbols in public places are the most visible assaults on Christian Christmas. And he said Christians feel increasing pressure to avoid symbols of their faith.
"Over time, they've been radicalizing this. We started with freedom of religion. Now we're to the point where the default is you keep quiet about your deeply held beliefs," Heath said.
"They need to back off and the ACLU needs to back off and stop pushing so hard against anything that includes Christmas carols and those kinds of things, just like a scrooge."
bump! bump! bump!
My wife went to the local drugstore to buy some Christmas cards and decorations and came home ranting and raving because almost everything said Happy Holidays.
Thank you for the poem. I know it's not classic poetry, but it always brings a lump to my throat, I just read it to mrs lj and had to pretend that I was coughing.
Great post, great sentiment...........totally agree.
Have a Happy Time celebrating Jesus Christ's Birthday!...another words...MERRY CHRISTMAS!
MERRY CHRISTMAS! And God bless us,,,,,Everyone!
Merry Christmas.
Jesus love you too.
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