I think that they should put back Mithra, or the Sun.
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Conservatives Take on Christmas Cause
Wed Dec 15, 9:46 AM ET
By ALLEN G. BREED, Associated Press Writer
Emboldened by their Election Day successes, some Christian conservatives
around the country are trying to put more Christ into Christmas this
season.
In Terrebonne Parish, La., an organization is petitioning to add "Merry
Christmas" to the red-lighted "Season's Greetings" sign on the main
government building and is selling yard signs that read, "We believe in
God. Merry Christmas." And a Raleigh, N.C., church recently paid $7,600
for a full-page newspaper ad urging Christians to spend their money only
with merchants who include the greeting "Merry Christmas" in ads and
displays.
"There is a revival taking place in our nation that is causing Christian
and right-minded people to say, `Wait a minute. We've gone too far,'"
says the Rev. Patrick Wooden Sr., pastor of the Raleigh church. "We're
not going to allow the country to continue this downward spiral to the
left."
In California, a group called the Committee to Save Merry Christmas is
boycotting Macy's and its corporate parent, Federated Department Stores,
accusing them of replacing "Merry Christmas" signs with ones wishing
shoppers "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays." The organization
cites "the recent presidential election showing political correctness is
offending millions of Americans."
(Federated, for its part, says that is has no ban on such greetings and
that its store divisions can advertise as they see fit and store clerks
are free to wish any customer "Merry Christmas." Macy's says its ads
commonly use the phrase.)
The push from the religious right troubles Barry Lynn, executive
director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
"This mixing of secular and religious symbols ought to be seen as a bad
thing, not a good thing, for Christian believers," he says.
"Unfortunately, some of the Christian pressure groups seem to have it
backwards." He adds: "I think it's fair to say it's a mistaken notion
that they have a mandate to put more nativity scenes up because George
Bush (news - web sites) was elected."
The battle over the manger on the city hall lawn is nothing new. People
expect the annual tussle over the separation of church and state.
But the "keep the Christ in Christmas" contingent is particularly
agitated this year over what its members see as a troubling trend on
Main Street: Target stores banning Salvation Army bell ringers; UPS
drivers complaining to a free-speech group that they have been told not
to wish people a "Merry Christmas" (an accusation UPS denies as "silly
on its face and just not true"); and major corporations barring
religious music from cubicles and renaming the office Christmas bash the
"end of the year" party.
"I think it is part of a growing movement of people with more
traditional values, which make up the majority of people in this
country, saying enough is enough," says Greg Scott, a spokesman for the
Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund.
Amid stories of schools banning the singing of carols on buses, Scott's
group has distributed to more than 5,000 schools a seven-point legal
primer citing 40 years of case law that says it is OK to mention
Christmas in public places. And the group has about 800 lawyers waiting
in the wings in case that notion needs to be reinforced.
To that same end, the Virginia-based Rutherford Institute, which says it
received the UPS driver complaints, has reissued its "12 Rules of
Christmas" guide to celebrating the birth of Jesus.
"I think the businesses and the schools have just gone too far; this is
the final straw," says Institute president John W. Whitehead. "It's
supposed to be a time of, what, peace and freedom and fun. And they've
kind of made it into a secular ... kind of gray day."
Conservative radio and TV talk show hosts have chortled over some recent
incidents of what they consider political correctness run amok.
In Kansas, The Wichita Eagle ran a correction for a notice that
mistakenly referred to the Community Tree at the Winterfest celebration
as a "Christmas Tree." And the mayor of Somerville, Mass., apologized
after a news release mistakenly referred to the Dec. 21 City Holiday
Party as a "Christmas Party."
But to many, the threats and demands that stores put up "Merry
Christmas" signs are no laughing matter.
"Why not simply require stores owned by Jews to put a gold star in their
ads and on their storefronts?" the Rev. Jim Melnyk, associate rector of
St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Raleigh, wrote in a letter to the editor.
___
EDITOR'S NOTE: Allen G. Breed is the AP's Southeast regional writer,
based in Raleigh, N.C. AP writer Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans
contributed to this report.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=703&e=1&u=/ap/20041215/a
p_on_re_us/what_s_the_season
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John Hachmann aa #1782
Which raises the question: Can a people that believes more fervently
in theVirgin Birth than in evolution still be called an Enlightened
nation?-Garry Wills, New York Times 11/04/04
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