One Antipodean view - some thoughts from Down Under.

Judah
Don't tell me... I know... my cap's on crooked! I like it that way.

The Bible Says...

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. - Colossians 1:15 ESV

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December 19, 2005

It’s OK to say “Merry Christmas”

Filed under: Christianity, Christmas, Comments on Culture — Judah @ 2:26 pm

Merry Christmas

I have come across a Jewish website founded to provide a Jewish response to the anti-Christian bias in the news media, entertainment, government and our western culture. These folks include distinguished rabbis, scholars, academics, authors and communicators, and they are all concerned about the way that the tyranny of political correctness is decimating Christianity.

Why would Jews, and very intelligent ones at that, be so concerned that Christianity is being attacked at its core from within and without? Why would they care about the disappearance of Christmas?

Here is part of a statement made recently by Don Feder, president of the organization Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation.
In this statement he is addressing the issue of Christmas, and asserting that It's OK To Say ‘Merry Christmas’.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Don Feder and I'm the president of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation. Our organization was founded to provide a Jewish response to anti-Christian bias in the news media, entertainment, government and the culture.

Our board of advisors includes distinguished rabbis, scholars, academics, authors and communicators.

Let me anticipate your first question today: What on earth are we doing here? Why would a group of Jews - who don't celebrate Christmas - care about the disappearance of Christmas?

Because Christmas is disappearing from our culture, at an ever-accelerating pace - disappearing from stores, disappearing from schools and disappearing from the public square.

Because this is an overwhelmingly Christian nation and it's a matter of simple courtesy to acknowledge a holiday celebrated by 96% of the American people. Would a Christian living in Israel be offended if someone wished them a Happy Hanukah? Based on population, America is more Christian than Israel is Jewish.

Because religion - all religion which teaches God and morality — enriches our society, instead of diminishing it.

Because Christmas is part of the fabric of American life, from the earliest settlements on these shores, to the delightful 1897 New York Sun editorial (addressed to a little girl named Virginia), to the troops who celebrated Christmas in Europe and the Pacific during World War II, to classics like “Miracle on 34th. Street,” to the Americans serving in Iraq today.

I believe Christmas is under attack primarily for three reasons.

First the tyranny of the hypersensitive — who've decided that they have an inalienable right not to encounter beliefs or symbols different from their own.

But this is supposed to be a democracy. When exactly was a militant and perpetually aggrieved minority given the power to censor the majority religion?

Second, some over-zealous officials have taken it upon themselves to re-interpret the First Amendment to exclude any public recognition of Christmas. But the Supreme Court has never held that Christmas carols or Christmas decorations in schools, or community Christmas trees or Christmas parties are unconstitutional.

Of course, if the politically correct posse can't get you on constitutional grounds, they always have “sensitivity” or “inclusiveness” to fall back on.

Finally, I believe, there's a subliminal urge on the part of the cultural elite to undermine America's Judeo-Christian ethic. By purging public celebrations (or even acknowledgements) of Christmas, they hope move us further down the road to a spiritually sanitized - and spiritually bankrupt — America, one divorced from biblical values.

Christmas is a subtle reminder that Americans are people of faith.

Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation is here today to say “enough, already!”

If you're offended by a municipal Christmas tree or Santa in a holiday parade or a manger in a park - Get over it. There's a lot that offends me. That doesn't give me the right to ban it.

If you're a public-school administrator who thinks Christmas carols or decorations are in violation of the First Amendment, read the Constitution - even in light of the Supreme Court's current distortions thereof.

If you're a retailer who does 20% of his business during the Christmas season, and you won't even acknowledge the holiday that's enriching you - well, you deserve to lose that business.

The war on Christmas should matter to all people of faith - and all people of good will.

Don Feder also says this about his organization and the concerns of his fellow members:

Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation was organized because we recognize that Christians are the last remaining obstacle to the moral deconstruction of America, because attacks on Christians are motivated by hatred for the values they espouse.

But the morality of Christianity is also the morality of Judaism - hence the expression Judeo-Christian ethic. By maintaining their loyalty to the eternal values revealed at Sinai, Christians have become pariahs in the eyes of the establishment, but heroes in our eyes.
(read more)

These are the kind of people who will help strengthen our western civilization to better resist the encroachment of foreign ideologies determined to overwhelm us. One does not have to be a Christian to contribute to the effort of reclaiming the foundations upon which our society was built.

And a good start would be to drop the weak euphemistic “Happy Holidays” greeting and revert to what this occasion is really all about - not a day off, not a big turkey dinner, not even Santa - and say it right out front: MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

Postscript:
UK Church Leaders Speak Out Against Anti-Christmas Trend
by Kevin McCandless, Correspondent, Crosswalk.com

• • •

Father Christmas encounters bureaucracy

Filed under: Christmas, Poems and Verse — Judah @ 3:22 am

Father Christmas
and the Customs Department

© Judah
(er, not sure I should
confess my authorship)

Father Christmas came last night
On an Airbus three-eighty flight.
Customs grabbed his bag real tight
Which put him in an awful plight.
In that bag were sweets and toys
For all us good wee girls and boys,
But Customs did not like his ploys
And all their staff forgot their poise.
Import duties must be paid
In case these items are for trade.
Gifts are also taxed to aid
Christmas party plans now made.
Father Christmas blew a fuse
Thinking “what have I to lose?”
But on the flight he’d had some booze
And oh my goodness, wet his trews.
They took him out around the back
While scanning what was in his sack.
Then scared their boss would give them flak
They said they’d cut him extra slack.
His trousers cleaned and dried as well
Father Christmas felt just swell.
Deciding he would not rebel
He handed out some caramel.
Everything had turned out right,
The Customs folk had seen the light.
Father Christmas said Goodnight
And boarded his ongoing flight.
Into the air with sleighbells ringing,
Father Christmas started singing.
Rudolph’s nose soon had them winging
This way and that, their journey bringing
Lots of little girls and boys,
Heaps of sweets and many toys.

Father Christmas came last night on an Airbus three-eighty flight

• • •
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