Posted on 12/07/2005 8:11:43 AM PST by Heartofsong83
Christ gets Canada Post's stamp of approval
Religious imagery is making a comeback this Christmas season, writes Jenny Jackson.
Jenny Jackson, The Ottawa Citizen Published: Wednesday, December 07, 2005
For the first time, Canada Post is selling religious and secular Christmas stamps, hoping to appease "both camps" in the treacherous crossfire over holiday terminology.
Next year, it will offer three secular stamps and one religious one.
Canada Post released three stamps with Nativity scenes and one snowman stamp in November, just two months after the Catholic Women's League of Canada asked its members to lobby Canada Post, the prime minister, the revenue minister and their MPs for a stamp that depicted Jesus' birth.
Agnes Bedard, the league's national president, says she has no idea how many people wrote to their MP, but, with 1,350 league councils across Canada, probably quite a few.
All the stamps had been on the drawing board for the better part of a year, so the release and the league's resolution were a coincidence. Still, an e-mail was circulated widely this week, saying:
"Dear friends,
"If you have not yet bought any postage stamps for this Christmas mailing, please ask for the stamps with the Nativity Scene on them as opposed to the ones with the Snowman.
"Canada Post, under pressure from Christian groups, such as the Catholic Women's League of Canada, has agreed to provide this series of stamps for 2005, but will not release a religiously oriented stamp in future years if sales of this series are not high enough. Keep Christ in Christmas when you buy your stamps.
"Thank you and God Bless."
Canada Post spokesman Cindy Daoust says she spoke to the league to clarify that Canada Post did not create the stamps "under pressure" nor would it necessarily drop them.
But she acknowledged that having both themes this year is a "recognition that people celebrate different aspects of the holidays. Canada Post is a business, and it is smart business to please both camps."
She could not provide sales figures, but Canada Post ordered 40 million of the 50-cent snowman, printed with holographic stamping to give it a little sparkle, 20 million of the 50-cent creche scene, and 7.5 million each of the 85 cent and $1.45 Nativity stamps.
The creches are all derived from Nativity scenes done by Canadian artists and installed in a collection of almost 1,000 at Saint-Joseph's Oratory in Montreal.
In 2002, the Christmas stamps showed aboriginal scenes of Jesus and Mary; in 2003, it was Christmas presents. Last year, the theme was Santa Claus parades.
So were the two themes this year a result of lobbying? More of an "evolution," says Ms. Daoust. Next year, three stamps will feature Christmas cards, and a fourth will depict a Madonna and child.
For years, news reports were filled with reports of Nativity scenes banned from public places, and requirements that salutations of "Merry Christmas" be changed to "Happy Holidays" or the truly bizarre "Sparkle Season."
But this year, a militant backlash is gaining momentum. Mrs. Bedard said North Americans have finally objected to 'holiday tree' and 'season's greetings.'
"It was a challenge to those of us who really believe ... We're not going to call it a 'holiday.' Christmas is His birthday."
The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's organization, has a campaign across North America called Keep the Christ in Christmas, lobbying for public creche scenes and -- yes -- religious stamps.
A book by Fox News commentator John Gibson, called The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse Than You Thought, is selling briskly, even in Canada.
But media writer Neil Gabler, a regular Fox panelist, wondered recently whether the entire controversy isn't snowballing .
He said to the host on a recent Fox program: "We are at war. There's (the humanitarian crisis in) Darfur. There's an AIDS crisis. And you're worried about whether people are saying 'Merry Christmas' or not? ... What world do you live in?"
© The Ottawa Citizen 2005
...I hope it's a public backlash against this idiocy of condemning all things christian and religious....
Gabler is an idiot.
Often if you fight for the "little things" the big things will take care of themselves.
Well, the closest we can come to the Christ
representation is a doll-like angel joining
our 37 cent snowmen, Santa and gingerbread
cookies!
If the US Post Office is going to raise our
stamp price 2 more cents, we should at least
have a more religious choice. Let those who
want snowmen buy snowmen or whatever. Give
me a creche, even a Guiding Star for Christmas.
Good to know the Knights of Columbus are out
there again, leading the crusade in America!
I'd like to hear the spin from the anti-religious Canadians, since Canada doesn't have an "establishment clause" to be misinterpreted the way the hedonists have in the U.S. So what gives?
"A book by Fox News commentator John Gibson, called The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse Than You Thought, is selling briskly, even in Canada."
Pot calling the kettle black?
O'Reilly, Gibson, and Fox have a lot of explaining to do about their double standards. They berated retailers the whole of last week for "Happy Holiday" signs when they were using "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" on their own online shop. The signs were changed as soon as MSNBC ran a story exposing Fox News' double standards.
hard telling, but I'm sure Newdow is starting the process....Michael better watch his back....it's got a big target on it.
It tells you that we aren't the heavily anti-religious country the media is spinning Canada as...
Their "mistake" ws taking place as their resident gurus, Gibson and O'Reilly, were lecturing others and desperately searching for retailers. If only they had looked at their own site for the secular agenda first.
It appears that this was not a "mistake." It was a deliberate effort to destroy Christmas (as stated repeatedly by O'Reilly). /sarc
"Well, the closest we can come to the Christ representation is a doll-like angel joining our 37 cent snowmen, Santa and gingerbread cookies!"
Really. You might check out the Madonna and child stamp. Seems pretty religious to me.
We've got close to 20 million Catholics in Canada, they better do as we say.
Boy, this IDIOT really doesn't get it, does he?
Don't know if you guys saw this yet. Really nice to see, I can't imagine a 'travesty' like this in the US. The ACLU's heads would be exploding.
Going through the Union building on campus today, there was a group singing religious Christmas carols. Really nice to hear!
That's right. I have heard absolutely NO kerfuffle over CHRISTmas in my area. It's merry Christmas everywhere!! I went to the mall last weekend and even the songs playing were Christian. Some of them were jingle bells etc. but there was also, the First Noel, and others that mention the birth of Christ.
There are lots of us Evangelicals too!!
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