Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

We are committing cultural suicide - (Attention: Atheists, Secularists & ACLU!)
TIMES ONLINE.CO.UK ^ | DECEMBER 21, 2004 | ANTHONY BROWNE

Posted on 12/21/2004 3:55:31 PM PST by CHARLITE

Christianity is being insidiously erased from the map. It’s time we fought back

COMPARE AND contrast 1:
(a) Sikhs storm a theatre in Britain showing a play depicting rape inside a Sikh temple;
(b) The Red Cross bans Nativity scenes in its shops;

Compare and contrast 2:
(a) Christmas trees and decorations are banned in Saudi Arabia;
(b) Christmas trees and decorations are banned in Britain’s Jobcentres.

The extremes that other religions go to preserve their cultural heritage is only matched in Christianity by its extreme death-wish.

Christmas has always stirred passion, attracting opponents and supporters. But until recently banning it has been so culturally offensive that fictional Christophobes entered the English language for their infamy. Ebenezer Scrooge declared “every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly in his heart”. Dr Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas declared that the Grinch’s motivation was “that his heart was two sizes too small”.

But real-life Scrooges and Grinches have banned Christmas before, not because their hearts were too small, but because their bigotry was too great. And now it is happening again.

In 1647 Oliver Cromwell cancelled Christmas: no parties, no fun, no days off work. Cromwell’s Puritanism was offended by bacchanalian revelry, led by the Lord of Misrule. Each year, town criers went through the land ordering that “Christmas and all other superstitious festivals” should not be celebrated.

The English were outraged. Secret festivities were held, pro-Christmas riots broke out and dozens of Christmas martyrs were jailed. A pamphlet called An Hue and Cry after Christmas was published, demanding that: “Any man or woman, that can give any knowledge, or tell any tidings of an old, old, very old grey bearded gentleman, called Christmas . . . let him bring him back again into England.”

In the past century, the godless Communists banned Christmas. In Cuba, Fidel Castro allowed people to take Christmas Day off work only after an intervention by the Pope.

Now the Christophobes are on the rampage again. The heirs of the Puritans and Communists have declared war on Christmas. But this time it is by stealth and guilt-tripping. The first step is to eviscerate the festival of any meaning by taking the Christ out of Christmas. Even as a lifelong atheist who finds all God stuff embarrassing, I appreciate Christmas’s religious message. But you are as likely to find a reference to Christ in civic Christmas decorations as you are to find a sixpence in a Christmas pudding. Almost no companies and few individuals send cards with any religious message. For the third consecutive year Christmas postage stamps will be Christless. A quarter of schools will not have Nativity plays, and almost as many have banned carols.

Once Christmas has been supplanted by a spiritually vacuous post-Christian orgy of consumption, the next phase of the war is to ban it altogether. Simply turn it, as Birmingham famously did, into a generic “Winterval” to make it equally meaningless to everyone. Tony Blair’s Christmas cards have no reference to, well, Christmas. The Eden Centre in Cornwall has banned Christmas, replacing it with “a time of gifts”.

The war on Christmas is being waged across Christendom. In Italy, a school replaced the Nativity play with Little Red Riding Hood, while another replaced the word “Jesus” in carols with “virtue”. The Mayor of Sydney caused outrage by reducing the city’s Christmas decorations to a single secular illuminated tree with the sign “Season’s greetings”. The US now has a national “holiday tree” and schools take “ winter holidays”. Christianity has gone back to its origins, and become the world’s most widely persecuted religion, finally prompting the Vatican to hit back with a campaign against “Christianophobia”.

So who are the modern-day Scrooges, Grinches, Cromwells and Castros, and what motivates them? In most cases, the Chistophobes use the excuse of multiculturalism, insisting that celebrating Christmas is offensive to non-Christian minorities, often citing Muslims. But the truth is that it is done in the name of Muslims, rather than at the request of Muslims, who accept the existence of Christ. Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists don’t mind Christmas celebrations any more than Christians object to Diwali, Eid or Chanukkah. As Trevor Phillips, the Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, said: “It’s not offensive to minority communities to celebrate the festival of Christmas.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: banned; christianity; christians; christmas; culturewars; fightback; greatbritain; jobcenters; merrychristmas; nativityscenes; olivercromwell; redcross; saudiarabia; townsquares; trees; winterholiday
My friend, Ruth King responds:

"No, the real Christophobes are the self-loathing, guilt-ridden politically-correct liberal elite, driven by anti-Christian bigotry and a ruthless determination to destroy their own heritage and replace it with “the other”. It is the American Civil Liberties Union that is threatening lawsuits against any schools that allow the singing of carols and the BBC’s editorial policy bans criticism of the Koran, but not the Bible."

In reality, the Christophobes are acting against the interests of ethnic minorities. By stripping Britain of its culture and traditions, they are causing a dangerous rising tide of anger. It prevents social cohesion and integration — who could want to integrate into a culture that is committing suicide?

So do your bit for community relations. Don’t let Scrooge and the Grinch win. Like the English under Cromwell, protest if you spot any Christophobes waging war on Christmas, sing a Christmas carol, and wish your neighbours “Merry Christmas!”

1 posted on 12/21/2004 3:55:34 PM PST by CHARLITE
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: CHARLITE

Let's lose the word 'Christophobe'. It's pathetic.

'Anti-Christian bigot' is more like it.


2 posted on 12/21/2004 4:06:21 PM PST by SolutionsOnly (but some people really NEED to be offended...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CHARLITE

I wonder where the cross in the Red Cross came from?


3 posted on 12/21/2004 4:38:57 PM PST by shubi (Peace through superior firepower.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CHARLITE

Christianity has been instrumental in the downfall of Rome, the USSR, etc., I am sure that if Christians will just wake up we can cause the destruction of the ACLU.


4 posted on 12/21/2004 4:42:21 PM PST by Mogollon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CHARLITE

What don't kill you, makes you stronger..


5 posted on 12/21/2004 5:22:26 PM PST by hosepipe (This propaganda has been ok'ed me to included some fully orbed hyperbole....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CHARLITE

No cultural suicide... separating the wheat from the chaff. Every civilization has its refining pot. This is ours. God is way bigger than some upset lawyer.


6 posted on 12/21/2004 5:24:00 PM PST by cyborg (http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/flamelily.html)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CHARLITE

This is happening in every Western country in the world, we are trying to eliminate our past so we can head to some godless future. I really think they are all trying to take out the Christians first because they are the largest. After they fall, they take out the Muslims, then the Buddhists and Hindus, then the Jews and Sikhs. When they are all gone, the only thing left will be Big Brother, the only one that will look after us. Maybe 1984 was not do far off.


7 posted on 12/21/2004 7:17:57 PM PST by Lupos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CHARLITE

Attention Atheists, ACLU, etc?????

Trying to encourage them even more? These freaks in the ACLU and Atheists KNOW that this is cultural suicide. The whole idea is to DESTROY American heritage and culture so that they can rebuild it in their own image, the National Socialist image with the United Nations as their point of Nationalistic Allegiance!

What, Christians in America are being brought up on Criminal charges after being attacks by gays? Felony charges no less for PREACHING THE BIBLE!!

Folks, if pastors don't wake up soon, the next step WILL be widespread incarceration, and then the final solution...

Sound nuts? Who would have ever imagined in their wildest dreams that Christians would be brought up on criminal FELONY charges for preaching the Bible in public 10 years ago...

Look how far we've come as the pastors in the pulpit sleep at the wheel and the car's headed for a cliff...

I'm not a Catholic and the Catholic Church is doing far more to fight this culture war than my own Protestant affiliations!! IT'S DESPICABLE!

See the ANTI-DNC Web Portal at --->
http://www.noDNC.com


8 posted on 12/21/2004 8:44:53 PM PST by woodb01 (See the ANTI-DNC Web Portal at ---> http://www.noDNC.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CHARLITE
insisting that celebrating Christmas is offensive to non-Christian minorities

Ironically, if given the chance, Islam if in control, would have absolutely no difficulty injecting their brand of religion into anything having to do with the government and would use it to suppress any other religions but primarily christianity and judaism.

9 posted on 12/21/2004 9:03:45 PM PST by Fruitbat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fruitbat
"Ironically, if given the chance, Islam if in control, would have absolutely no difficulty injecting their brand of religion into anything having to do with the government and would use it to suppress any other religions but primarily christianity and judaism."

Exactly right. How can we join together to fight this tail that has been wagging the BIG DOG for too long? According to recent polls, 87% of Americans are just fine with Christianity, Jesus' historical "personhood," the virgin birth and naturally, the celebration of Christmas! Less than 10% really are "offended" (or pretend to be for political purposes, to advance their secular agenda.....)

When is the BIG DOG going to start taking control of his tail?

By the way........I LOVE your user name! "fruitbat! Too clever! Touché!

10 posted on 12/21/2004 9:25:38 PM PST by CHARLITE ((very-angry-and-not-going-to-take-it-anymore))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: CHARLITE

INTREP - secularization


11 posted on 12/21/2004 10:35:25 PM PST by LiteKeeper (Secularization of America is happening)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson