Atheism At Christmastime ( Archived) (114)

From Penna Dexter and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
“Early in December, I visited my daughter at college. Spread across her floor was a project she was working on for an elementary education class. The assignment was to prepare a holiday unit for the public school classroom. The project was supposed to include room decorations, a game, songs, and stories. And in order to “fit into” the public school requirements, religious references, including references to Christmas, were forbidden.
I was proud of her exquisite, sparkling work, featuring snowflakes and icicles in shades of silver, white and blue. But there was something very sad about it. It seemed cold and empty compared to the cheery reds, greens and golds of Christmas. The songs were unfamiliar to me. Even “Frosty the Snowman” is taboo, I guess, because it mentions Christmas.
Perhaps I should not be surprised at the way things have progressed. The religious aspects of Christmas have been taboo for awhile. Now even the childhood fun of the Christmas celebration is being stripped from the nation’s public schools.
Legally, the acknowledgement and discussion of Christmas is not forbidden in schools or the public square. But city officials and school administrators across the country are downplaying it for fear of being sued by the ACLU and their “offended” clients.
Christmas vacation is now universally referred to as “winter break” and the Christmas program the “winter concert.” The courts pretty much agree that, in public schools and on government property, manger scenes are required to be combined with secular symbols like reindeer and Christmas trees, or Santas and Frostys.
Christians have kind of come to grips with that. But the secularizers are not satisfied. In recent years, even the non-religious but traditional aspects of Christmas are being challenged.
Town officials are finding themselves in the peculiar position of having to decide whether Christmas—I mean “holiday”—parades can include the presence of Santa Claus. This year, in Fort Collins , Colorado , there was a fight over red and green Christmas lights. A city-appointed task force, which included a member of the Northern Colorado ACLU, proposed the colours be banned. (An overwhelming outcry by citizens convinced the city council not to “mess with tradition.”) This year, the Seattle airport lost its Christmas trees to winter displays.
In the name of inclusiveness, symbols that have nothing to do with the Christian aspects of Christmas are banned from the public square, leaving it cold. You have to wonder: Do people other than ACLU lawyers really want these changes? The answer to that question appeared last month in the form of a survey released by Rasmussen Reports. One thousand adults were polled, and 67 percent said they prefer that retailers use “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays” in their seasonal advertising. Most people are weary of this politically correct nonsense.
As if it were not depressing enough to observe the secularization of Christmas, we also get to live through another attempt by atheist Michael Newdow to strip God from the Pledge of Allegiance. He’s also demanding that “under God” be removed from our national motto. Newdow was back in federal court on December 4, in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the same court that affirmed his challenge to the pledge in 2002.

(con't)

Hollywood is co-operating with the outright promotion of atheism to kids. Just in time for the Christmas movie season comes the epic fantasy film, The Golden Compass. The film has the look of the Chronicles of Narnia movie that was so successful a couple of years ago. But it’s the anti- Narnia.
The Golden Compass is based on the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy written by British atheist Phillip Pullman. Pullman hates C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. In fact, his trilogy is meant to counteract the message of Christianity that Lewis so beautifully describes for children. The internal knowledge of God we all have, the law written on our hearts described in Romans 2, the conscience that even a child has . . . these, Pullman attempts to squelch.
Pullman says he’s surprised his books have not received more criticism. The final book in the trilogy is about “killing God.” The director of The Golden Compass admits the anti-God message is “watered down” for financial reasons. Its success will allow the production of the next two films in the trilogy, and they will be much more faithful to the books.
Several recent best-selling books by atheists have become weapons in this secular war on Christians and their beliefs. Author Dinesh D’Souza describes the struggle and counters their arguments in his new book, What’s So Great About Christianity? He argues that atheists have developed a strategy to win the minds of the next generation. Believing and involved parents are the counter to this, and the atheists know it.
Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, calls faith a mental illness, and raises the question of whether or not parents should “be free to impose their beliefs on their children.” Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great, asks “How can we ever know how many children had their psychological and physical lives irreparably maimed by the compulsory inculcation of faith?” And another atheist, Sam Harris, wrote The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. He believes atheism should be taught because it is “an admission of the obvious.”
In his recent speech on faith, presidential candidate Mitt Romney lamented the secularization of America , saying, “Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom.” He is a Mormon. How much more should Christians be the defenders of faith in culture?
There was once a Christian consensus in this country that walled off the influence of atheism on the culture. Free nations should welcome religion, specifically Christianity, because it preserves freedom. Totalitarian regimes benefit when the culture is stripped of religion, or religious celebrations.
In the former Soviet Union , Communists feared Christianity and gradually secularized the Christmas holiday. They wrote Jesus out of Christmas carols, banned St. Nicholas, and banned Christmas trees. Not willing to let go, the people moved these traditions to New Year’s.
Our nation is still overwhelmingly Christian. We pride ourselves on our tolerance of all religions . . . or no religion. But Christians should remain vigilant and winsomely seek to remain the primary drivers and influencers of culture in America.”
Penna Dexter is a board member of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, a conservative activist and an announcer on the syndicated radio program Life on the Line. She currently serves as a consultant for KMA Direct Communications in Plano , Texas , and as a co-host of Jerry Johnson Live, a production of Criswell Communications.

We as induviduals can and should keep our traditions and faith.
I will keep on saying; Merry or Blessed Christmas.
Jews nor Siks have said to have nothing against
Christmas trees etc. as they themselves have a tree, and celebrate Christmas.
It is sad to see the spirit of Christmas gone but I keep it in my heart.
Thank you for posting Barren your not as popular as the non believers, another sad.

absolutely spot on

They always have a problem with Sharia Law, though, without mention of the days of the Inquisitions, or witch-burnings.

Religious states are anti-thetical to religious freedom. The only way to gaurantee freedom of religion is to gaurantee freedom from religion, because otherwise their in your face with their morality.

Stated better than any one-liner I could toss out.