The "War on Christmas" - Chapter 1

courtesy of my blog: http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/

I believe that my readers are too intelligent to fall for imaginary conflict when it is presented in media form. Which means that when Fox News, and other Republitard pundits start spewing their hatred and fueling a fabricated fire, most of you I'm sure will not fall for it. Rather, you'll engage the logic center in your brain, and come to the conclusion that there has to be fecal matter in their argument, and apparently, it is full of such material.

However, like the mythical Pickle on the Christmas Tree, or the belief that "the Christmas Shoes" is high quality Christmas music; the "War on Christmas" Myth is told so often, that it's permeating and infecting the joyous season that I love so dearly. So, today I begin a series of blog entries devoted to crushing and obliterating the ignorance and awakening the TRUE spirit of Christmas.

So, let's start with this: There is NO War on Christmas. Not that it's not that bad, or it's easily solved; it DOESN'T EXIST. The assumption asserted by the ironically named "Right" is that your freedom to celebrate Christmas as you see fit is in grave danger of becoming a memory. That some "force" out there is hunting down those who celebrate Christmas, and insisting that they stop it! This isn't happening. No such "Force" exists. Just calm down people!

The best evidence offered to back up this ridiculous idea is the fact that many stores, and public facilities have taken to greeting people with "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas." I don't believe that anyone truly ever saw this as an attack, but someone found it in their best interest to start that rumor, and start telling other idiots that it's true.

I'll never believe in the "War on Christmas" because I actually know my history. I know of several times in history when there truly WAS persecution against the Christmas holiday. It goes back to ancient Rome.

You may know of tales of the Ancient Romans throwing Christians to the Lions. In the days following Christ's resurrection, and the birth of Christianity, those who followed Jesus were not very welcomed by those in Rome. Many Christians chose to hide their religion in several ways. In fact, we now celebrate Christmas on December 25 for just this reason. That time of year coincides with the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which is celebrated with feasting, gift giving and all kinds of debauchery. Christians secretly celebrated the birth of Christ at the same time so that their celebration wouldn't stand out. Everyone was celebrating, and everyone's too drunk to ask specifically what was being celebrated.

And then there was England around the time of the Anglican Church, when King Henry insisted that all English people convert to the Church of England. Catholics that wouldn't convert were harassed and even arrested. Legend has it that the "12 Days of Christmas" is a symbolic code to teach children the tenets of Catholicism, such that no one would know what the song was truly about. Years later, when Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans took over rule of England, they abolished Christmas all together. The puritans didn't believe in celebrating Christmas, and Cromwell made that the law.

I don't think I even need to mention Nazi Germany, China, or the former Yugoslavia, or any other place where openly celebrating your religion can get you arrested, or even killed. THAT'S persecution my friend. Now, what inconvenience do you have to live with?

Oh, you mean rather than being greeted with "Merry Christmas" which applies only to Christians, they want you to greet people with "Happy Holidays," which applies to ALL faiths? Oh, the horror of having to include people whose beliefs differ from yours! You mean they also want to have a menorah featured alongside your Christmas tree in the public square? I'm sorry... Holiday Tree. (More on that later)

I'm sorry, people, but you aren't being persecuted; your faith is not being denied; and you aren't being asked to change your whole belief system. You're being asked to extend greetings to people who are NOT of the same faith as you. Which is common freaking courtesy, not a "War" on your faith!

We, the Christians, have basically all of December devoted to specials, movies, and music celebrating our holiday. No fewer than THREE different New York radio stations are currently playing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week of cheesy Christmas Music. The only place to find Hannukah music not written by Adam Sandler is on PBS. Hell, Christmas decorations have been up in the stores since Halloween! I say it again: There IS NO WAR ON CHRISTMAS!



Now, tell me that you have to move your Christmas party to another holiday date in order to hide the fact that you're Christian, lest you be thrown to the lions, and THEN you can talk to me about a "War on Christmas." When the president declares that Christmas is no longer a national holiday, and that people will be arrested for openly celebrating, then begin your crusade against Wal-mart. If a time ever comes that the government, or a community actively tries to restrict your freedom of religion, I will jump on the bandwagon, grab a flag, and take up arms to fight alongside you. You know, like when people attempt to shut down construction of a mosque, or vandalize a Jewish person's house with swastikas.