Religions > Atheism > Salon article: How the secular humanist grinch didn't steal Christmas
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Jason Spaceman" |
| Date: |
21 Nov 2005 02:05:06 AM |
| Object: |
Salon article: How the secular humanist grinch didn't steal Christmas |
From the article:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The right-wing crusade against the liberal "war on Christmas" is great
for rallying the troops. Too bad the war doesn't exist.
By Michelle Goldberg
Nov. 21, 2005 | In 1959, the recently formed John Birch Society issued
an urgent alert: Christmas was under attack. In a JBS pamphlet titled
"There Goes Christmas?!" a writer named Hubert Kregeloh warned, "One
of the techniques now being applied by the Reds to weaken the pillar
of religion in our country is the drive to take Christ out of
Christmas -- to denude the event of its religious meaning." The
central front in this perfidious assault was American department
stores, where the "Godless UN" was scheming to replace religious
decorations with internationalist celebrations of universal
brotherhood.
"The UN fanatics launched their assault on Christmas in 1958, but too
late to get very far before the holy day was at hand," the pamphlet
explained. "They are already busy, however, at this very moment, on
efforts to poison the 1959 Christmas season with their high-pressure
propaganda. What they now want to put over on the American people is
simply this: Department stores throughout the country are to utilize
UN symbols and emblems as Christmas decorations."
According to the JBS, this assault on yuletide iconography was "part
of a much broader plan, not only to promote the UN, but to destroy all
religious beliefs and customs." The pamphlet called on all Americans
to fight back by informing department stores that those with improper
ornamentation wouldn't be getting their business.
At the time, the campaign to save Christmas was not widely treated as
a matter of great national import. The John Birch Society was
generally regarded as a crank, far-right outfit whose paranoid
conspiracy theories (it believed fluoridated water was part of an evil
communist plot to poison America's brains) put it outside the pale of
reasonable discourse. Staffers on the ultra-right 1964 Barry Goldwater
campaign tried to prevent Birchers from volunteering because they
carried the taint of extremism. The John Birch Society didn't have
access to a major television network. But a lot has changed since
then.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Read it at http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/11/21/christmas/
J. Spaceman
.
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
