The Founding Father's Real Reason for the Second Amendment
And remember the words of Thomas Jefferson "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." See Video of Suzanna Gratia-Hupp’s Congressional Testimony: What the Second Amendment is REALLY For, below (u-tube HERE).
The Leaders Are Here... Palin, Cruz, Lee, Paul, Chaffetz....
T'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Can You Really Still Believe That None of These People Would Have Done a Better Job???
By Marion Algier – The War on Christmas verses the Spirit of Christmas Series at AskMarion – 12
Leftist comedian Jon Stewart recently introduced his annual skewering of the “war on Christmas” with a montage of Fox News personalities breathlessly reporting the latest outrages against the holiday’s religious origins. “Let’s face facts, the annual Fox ‘war on Christmas’ has become a little predictable”, Stewart said, kicking off his own predictable seasonal faux war on Fox and especially Bill O’Reilly.
Illustration by Sean McCabe; Source: Ryan McVay / Getty; Peter Breiehagen / Photographer's Choice-Getty; Stockbyte-Getty; Stockbyte-Getty; Jamie McCarthy / Getty)
The Daily Beast: For several years now, there have been signs the war on Christmas is running out of ammunition. Google Trends shows a peak in news articles mentioning the Christmas clashes in 2005, after which they slowed to a small annual blip. In 2007 the Springfield, Ill., State Journal-Register remarked that the paper had received hardly any letters about the war on Christmas. “If there still is a War on Christmas going on, its soldiers must have gone underground,” they wrote in a Christmas Eve editorial. Despite occasional flare-ups, like 2010’s “billboard war” between Catholics and atheist groups outside New York City, the battle over the December holidays gradually became the stuff of social-media memes, Onion parodies, and Daily Show takedowns.
Hmmm… or is it just that the mainstream media has stopped reporting on the War on Christmas?!?
How did this cultural flash point slide into oblivion, with Bill O’Reilly virtually the last person continuing to fight?, the Daily Beast asks. Some Christmas soldiers say it’s because their side won. According to the American Family Association, 80 percent of the retailers the group profiled for its inaugural “naughty and nice” list in 2005 used religion-neutral terminology like “holidays” in their advertising and store signs. Now an overwhelming majority have reverted back to using the word “Christmas.” Randy Sharp, a spokesman for the AFA, says that “there has been a correction.” Retailers, he says, realized “people weren’t offended by being wished a ‘Merry Christmas,’ but those of us who celebrate the historical significance of the birth of Christ are offended when you downplay that.”
Bill Donohue, the president of the conservative Catholic League, which has skirmished with atheist groups over Christmas displays, said his organization has received far fewer reports of alleged discrimination against Christmas this year.
Though the war on Christmas may no longer be an annual ‘news’ event, its legacy remains in ongoing local battles over religious expression in schools and on government property. Anecdotally, some Americans say that anger over the perceived purging of Christmas from society was simply absorbed into the right’s more general resentment toward the forces of multicultural inclusion. “It’s become part of the background noise,” said Charlie Digiglio of Waxahachie, Texas, describing conversations he’s overheard among friends and co-workers. “For many people, it’s just an assumed reality that’s hardly worth mentioning anymore.”
Jon Stewart addressed one of Bill O'Reilly's more impassioned "War on Christmas" moments during a Monday Monologue about guarding America from creeping secularism.
O'Reilly, who is the undisputed leader of "War on Christmas" coverage, had a slightly shouty (by which we mean it was surprising chairs weren't thrown) conversation with an atheist on his show last week. Besides calling his guest a "fascist," he also claimed that Christianity is a philosophy, not a religion. Followed by an interview with Dennis Miller.
But we are here to say to the Daily Beast… “Not so fast!!” The war on Christmas is alive and well and the war on religion… on Christians and Jews has accelerated in the United States and around the world!! Let us all remember that just because the mainstream media isn’t reporting on something does not mean it isn’t so or isn’t happening.
“The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ is a divine person. That makes all the difference in the world.” -Stuart Briscoe
By Marion Algier – The War on Christmas verses the Spirit of Christmas Series at AskMarion – 10
Christians have allowed the true meaning of Christmas to be lost and co-opted. One of the greatest things you can do each year is to take part in or attend a Christmas Pageant about the true story of Christmas and to make that meaning the focus of your holiday. Gifts, decorations, parties, caroling and all the rest are great as long as we focus on the true meaning of Christmas. We have allowed ourselves as a society to forget “the reason for the season”, this season and holiday as well as many others and thereby lose the purpose and the value of the special moments and celebrations in our lives.
Some of my greatest memories of Christmas involve going to mass on Christmas Eve as a child with my family and then participating in the Glory of Christmas (and Easter) for over 10-years as a family, with my husband and daughter, at the Crystal Cathedral… which after 30-years is now dark.
And some holidays like Christmas actually become part of the fabric of a nation, which was true of Christmas in America until we allowed political correctness to wag the dog… let the 15% tell 85% what they can and cannot do. And as Ben Stein has written more than once… he, a Jew, looks forward to the bejeweled trees, Christmas carols and an overall kinder season.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin (who founded the American Alliance of Christians and Jews) said On Glenn Beck’s Post-Thanksgiving Review Program: Although I am Jewish and do not celebrate Christmas I respect the traditions and the holiday and I like the holiday for two good reasons: It helps the economy and it makes people better… (95% of the money spent at Christmastime is for others… rather than for ourselves).
Lapin has spoken against the secularization of Christmas, saying that “We see obsequious regard for faiths like Judaism and even Islam, while Christianity is treated with contempt”. He is opposed to replacing the “Merry Christmas” greeting with “Happy Holidays”, saying instead “Let us all go out of our way to wish our many wonderful Christian friends a very merry Christmas… Nationwide, Christmas Nativity scenes are banned from city halls and shopping malls but Chanukah menorahs are permitted. There is without a doubt a war on Christmas as well as on patriotism.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Damon Vix didn’t have to go to court to push Christmas out of the city of Santa Monica. He just joined the festivities.
The atheist’s anti-God message alongside a life-sized nativity display in a park overlooking the beach ignited a debate that burned brighter than any Christmas candle.
Santa Monica officials snuffed the city’s holiday tradition this year rather than referee the religious rumble, prompting churches that have set up a 14-scene Christian diorama for decades to sue over freedom of speech violations. Their attorney will ask a federal judge Monday to resurrect the depiction of Jesus’ birth, while the city aims to eject the case.
Secularists battling against nativities is nothing new, but 2012 has brought some major victories for atheists. Consider Santa Monica, California, where a 60-year nativity tradition has been banned; other communities have backed down over fears that Christian themes will be legally challenged by groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) as well.
But — believers are getting smart and fighting back with some creative methods of navigating around church versus state disagreements.
TheBlaze already told you about the Santa Monica work-around: Christians will stage a live nativity, as only unattended displays were banned from the Palisades Park. Now, a community in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has found it’s own solution to a potential atheist-led lawsuit against a display in front of a local municipal building. Read Full Story and See Video HERE
Wow, these photos below, from outside the U.S. Supreme Court, bring back great memories of being part of the Glory of Christmas and Glory of Easter pageants for the Crystal Cathedral as a family.
Fox News’ Shannon Bream is on the scene as faith organizations stage a live Nativity scene outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
Faith Organizations to Display Live Nativity Scene with Animals in Front of the United States Supreme Court and the United States Capitol
This scene, sponsored by Faith and Action as well as The Christian Defense Coalition is part of “The Nativity Project.” The project seeks, in part, to bring attention to the hostility with which faith in the public square is met.
On Twitter, the camel is a hit. And, yes, that's a real camel at the Supreme Ct.
Wow, these photos below, from outside the U.S. Supreme Court, bring back great memories of being part of the Glory of Christmas and Glory of Easter pageants for the Crystal Cathedral as a family.
A full on Nativity scene outside SCOTUS 2012
Wow!
And for those that love the live animals in the nativity and pageants… check this out: Animal Nativity
Ask any atheist or even secularist why they are opposing a Nativity Scene or in some cases even a Christmas tree, which is actually a secular symbol of the season, being put up in the town square or why they are so upset about the posting of the Ten Commandments. They will almost always sight the separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution.
Amazing, because there is no mention of the separation of church and state in the Constitution, yet we have allowed them to create an entire movement based on a lie or misinformation. And actually Thomas Jefferson along with the rest of the Founding Fathers felt that God and Judeo-Christian values were essential for our Republic to survive.
The majority of people in this Country are or have Christian backgrounds and Thomas Jefferson, knowing that the only way a country can survive is to base its values and laws on solid principals, consciously chose Christian-Judeo values to set our country’s compass by! And it is seen, again and again in the Founding Fathers’ writings, that they stressed the need of biblical principles and Christian values as the framework for good government. Yet, they believed that each individual should be free to contribute according to his conscience to a pastor and church of his own choice, or no church at all if they so choose, and that one’s religious beliefs should not in any way determine his suitability for civil government. Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers also believed that their should be separation between church and state, meaning. We welcome everyone… but we expect them to assimilate and become part of the American melting pot… that is how America has survived and thrived. Just as, if we as individual Americans moved to another country, it would be our place to adjust and assimilate to their customs and traditions. The Founding Fathers realized that this amazing Country and their fight for freedom was God inspired and that God needed to be at the center of this nation.
In recent years, those who would like to interpret the First Amendment in a manner our forefathers never intended, have made use of the term “Separation of Church and State” to mean that there could be no possible impact or influence of Christianity upon civil government – or even upon education. The true meaning of the Establishment Clause can be stated in these terms – “Separation of Church from interference by the State”, exactly the opposite of what the progressives and critics now try to portray and push on the rest of us.
In fact, the only time the expression “Separation of Church and State” was used by a founding father, is in an off-the-record, non-political letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association. He wrote this letter on July l, 1802 replying to their public address which applauded his stance for establishing Religious Freedom. Jefferson prefaces his statement with an assurance to the Danbury Baptists that he concurs with their belief of man being accountable to God alone for his mode of worship, without the government’s coercion or interference:
…Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “Make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State…
We have been had again by the liberal courts and suits by radical left groups like the ACLU and our own lack of knowledge of our history and the Constitution and unwillingness to stand-up and fight. Americans need to get back to studying and insisting that their children learn real history and about their religion. A little reading or discussion of the Constitution, the Bible, current events or what is going on at school would go a long way instead of everyone eating alone while playing another video game or eating together on TV trays staring at the television.
God is common to all believers and 98% of the population. As for the atheists, we do not make you believe in any specific religion, tithe nor worship, and “we” should not have to remove God, reference to him or general prayer for the 2 - 3% who are true atheists.
85% of Americans self-identify as Christians. (2002)
7% of US adults classify as evangelicals (2004)
38% of US adults classify as born again, but not evangelical. (2004)
37% are self-described Christians but are neither evangelical nor born again
Atheists and agnostics combined comprise 14.2% of adults nationwide. (2004) (approx. 12% agnostics and 2.2% atheists) – however that number temporarily dropped after 9/11/2001
11% of the US population identify with a faith other than Christianity (2004)
2.1% of Americans are Jews (2005)
0.05% of Americans are Muslims (2007) – but it is the fastest growing religion in America and official #’s are expected to jump after the census.
And let us remember… in the end there are no atheists in fox holes or major crisis, as we saw after 9/11.
However, “An October 2012 Pew poll found that, ‘In the last five years alone, the [religiously] unaffiliated have increased from just over 15 percent in 2007 to just under 20 percent of all U.S. adults in 2012. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics,’” … many students and young people. Why this change, you might wonder? As Dennis Praeger points out, for at least the last hundred years, the world’s most dynamic religion has been neither Christianity nor Islam. It has been leftism.
Did You Know… the Founding Fathers and God
Thomas Jefferson, with input of the other Founding Fathers, based our entire system on Judeo-Christian Values because they felt it was the best and most honest system there was.
Nowhere in the Constitution Does It Talk About Separation of Church and State and the concept was pick up from a letter between Jefferson and a cousin, but the context was changed. The concept was to protect the church from the government, not the government from the church.
The Founding Fathers believed in Freedom of Religion and welcomed all faiths… all variations of Christianity, Judaism, Muslims, etc. or the right not to worship at all, but they realized that God had to be at the center of our lives and society for freedom and the Republic to survive. And although they welcomed everyone to worship as they pleased, this Country was founded as a Christian Nation and the notion that they people we welcomed to come for freedom then telling us that we could no longer worship our religion or our way… was not and would not have been a consideration. 78 % of all Americans say they are Christians, even with the decay of families going to church and 84% of all Americans say they believe in God.
Thomas Jefferson wrote a book called The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth Extracted Textually from the Gospels: The Jefferson Bible. It was the words of Jesus in four different languages. It was given to each freshman Congressman when they came to the Hill from 1904 until the Progressive era… sometime in the 1920’s, because it was considered valuable information for each of them to have.
9 of the original 13 colonies had a state religions which are and were perfectly legal, but the Federal Government was restricted from starting an official National Religion to prevent religious control by the government like in England. (This concept of states’ rights correlates directly with the argument that the left is making about National Healthcare being legal, using Massachusetts as an example of a state that has mandated healthcare as justification for required National Healthcare… much is left to the states and the people, that is not granted to the Federal Government!)
Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin have been portrayed as the least religious Founding Fathers and as Deist or Atheists rather than Christians and are then help up in re-written history and Progressive arguments as examples of Renaissance Men. Both are interesting non-conventional figures in many ways, the not being Christians with strong beliefs in God is complete fabrication.
You used to be able to find the 10 Commandments in every Federal building and every State House.
Thomas Jefferson started a church in Congress, where Christian services were held for 2,000 people and the U.S. Marine Corps Band played, every Sunday. It featured the first female pastor and a black choir director.
Thomas Jefferson signed every letter: In the Year of Our Lord, Christ…
Jefferson wrote some 19,000 letters and only in 6 did he raise any question about religion in any way… yet those 6 are continuously quoted.
Founding Father Benjamin Wilson, who was one of the few men who helped draft both the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution and became one of the first Supreme Court Judges said, “You can’t have good civil law if you cut out divine law!”
Samuel Adams, called Father of the Revolution, printed the first U.S. editions of the Holy Bible in conjunction with the Continental Congress to be used in school.
Two textbooks: Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Wives of the Signers: The Women Behind the Declaration of Independence used to be standard and required textbooks for all. (They have just been reprinted by WallBuilders). In the latest textbook curriculum hearings in Texas, Thomas Jefferson and his accomplishments are virtually left out of the newest history books, and study of the Founding Fathers in general or the Constitution is minimal. (Former President Ronald Reagan has met the same fate.) Texas and California textbooks have been used by the majority of the Country for years now, because they order so many and set the standard.
Founding Father Benjamin Rush, the Fatherof American Medicine and the Father of American Psychiatry, had a dream about a book of letters written between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, after Adams and Jefferson had a falling out. He also dreamed that Jefferson and Adams would die on the same day, on July 4th… and so they did 17-years later. He wrote Adams who felt Rush’s dream was providential and was willing to again communicate with Jefferson. Due to this dream the two old founders began their communication again, and years later their letters were compiled into a book and those plus so many other letters give us the insight that we have into that time. (FF Richard Henry Lee also left much invaluable documentation from that time.)
Approximately two years ago, HBO and Tom Hanks put out a special on John Adams. It was spectacular in many ways, but it purposely left out the importance of Faith in Adam’s life and falsely made Benjamin Franklin look like a lecherous, self-indulgent and faithless fool.
Benjamin Rush said, “If we ever take the Bible out of school, we will spend our time and money fighting crime.” (The same can be said for fighting uncontrolled teen pregnancy and abortions!)
In 1926 a group of Progressive Cornell Professors wrote a book called the Godless Nation, with no footnotes for their sources.They represented George Washington as being unreligious. That book and the information was contested a year later and proven untrue, but the Progressives… who have been re-writing textbooks and U.S. history are still quoting the Cornell book. George Washington had no natural children but adopted his step-daughter, who lived in her parents’ home for years. She was pressed at one point on her father’s Christianity. Although a much longer answer, essentially she said “to question the depth of his Christianity and faith in God is like questioning his Patriotism”… enough said!
In the 1940’s the Federal Government put out a poster with the Bible on it… with the claim that by fighting the Nazi’s and Communist’s they were saving the world for Christianity.
In the 1960’s the Federal Government put out various posters for war bonds including one set with Joan of Arc and another with the Nativity Scene on them and the Department of Agriculture put out a series of Fire and Flame posters and flyers with Smokey the Bear and direct quotes from the Bible.
However, in the 1960’s the Progressives infiltrated churches and began the teachings of social justice, ecumenicalism and new evangelism instead of Biblical teaching, just like they infiltrated schools and the educational system and began re-writing the history our children were (are) learning and taking God out of school. They also changed the policy of teaching Constitutional Law in Law School to studying Case Law… which allows corruption and social interpretation rather than the true law as stated in the U.S. Constitution.
Checkout WallBuilders.com about the history of the Founding Fathers on God, Jesus and Christianity – Their Founder wrote Original Intent and is travelling with Glenn Beck on his educational tour which focuses on us starting over and rebuilding this Country using the Founders principles of Faith, Hope, Charity, Duty and Truth. And you cannot rebuild a house on a rotted foundation. So in order to rebuild our country we need to understand our history, including the Founder’s Faith in God, to even start
One Major Reason Atheists Get Their Panties in a Wad Over Christmas
Why do some atheists embarrass themselves year after year trying to eradicate Christmas from American culture? Why do they make themselves societal hemorrhoids during this hallowed season? Is it because they are crusaders for equality, secularism’s saviors and humanism’s heroes? I’m sure that’s what they tell themselves when they’re pouting on their couches all alone on Christmas Eve after every single one of their friends has dumped them for being a rabid jackass.
I believe, however, and I could be wrong, that the reason some rage against the machine is that they hate God and love their sin, and bringing up Jesus in December is not the way they wanted to finish off the year. Indeed, Christ really rains on their parade—and they love their parade.
Christmas, if you really get down to the brass tacks of it, boys and girls, isn’t about reindeer, elves and iPhones, but about mankind’s sin problem and what God did to remedy it by sending His Son.
I know the chief facet most people focus on regarding Christ’s birth has been the peace on earth and good will towards men stuff, but if you dig around in the gospels a tad you’ll quickly see that the “peace on earth” thing is an ancillary perk to the main reason the second person of the godhead donned an earth suit and decided to hang out with us dunderheads. The core cause that necessitated Jesus’ incarnation was our jacked up carnality. Yep, Beavis, it was our sin. There, I said it. Sin. Yours, mine and ours.
Transgression was the reason for the season.
This is why El Diablo didn’t pass out cigars at Jesus’ birth. Happy he was not that the Son was not only going to address our sins but He was going to eternally and temporally salvage those who believe from sin’s fetid effects. This is why slewfoot energized Herod to put a hit out on the Nazarene when He was a wee little baby and why Satan’s demon inspired ilk is anti-Christmas to this today. Jesus’ birth equated to Satan’s demise.
This is not good news to some, though. Indeed, many atheists are up front about it and don’t want to leave their wantonness. As Jesus himself said, they prefer darkness to light and don’t like to be reminded of their personal accountability for their sin—and thus their need for salvation—and therefore we should not expect them to be stoked about Jesus’ birthday party.
This is easy math, folks: A person who has no remorse and thus no desire to repent from their sins is probably not going to be a big advocate for the celebration of the person who reminds them they’re wrong and calls them to repent and believe.
Call me goofy, but I’m forever grateful for Jesus’ birth, His attesting miracles, His sacrificial death, burial and resurrection. While most atheists this Christmas will be drinking to forget, I will, as Martin Luther said, drink to remember the One who was and is and is to come.
Here is an interesting although somewhat confusing take on the war on Christmas from Libertarian Atheist Penn Jillette: See Video and comment below
I found Mr. Jilette's (a comedian and an admitted atheist) comments, linked here, considerate, open minded and confusing all at the same time. Seems to me his basic theme is that atheists sense they are "left out" when the focus of the upcoming holiday is on the word Christmas and therein lies what I consider confusing. How can that be when the reason for the season/holiday, or whatever name is used to avoid offending anyone, is not so everyone can get into a shopping frenzy hunting for super shopping deals from the day after Thanksgiving until late in the day on Dec. 24th -- annually. Come to think of it, Thanksgiving Day is turning into a trigger for a sales event rather than a time of giving thanks for a lot of folks. I guess one can be thankful for their shelter while camped out at Best Buy waiting for Black Friday. Now then, if all the red ribbons, beautifully wrapped "gifts", decorated pine trees, carolers singing about peace on earth and good will to men, festive gatherings of family and friends, people dressed as Santa and/or elves preparing gifts never appeared in TV commercials, mail or store fronts would this time of year still be called Christmas by our general population? Not likely!! From a commercial point of view, for those business that cannot openly acknowledge the reason for the season, it's time to drop all the phony appearances and call this a shopping holiday instead since the overall objective is to beat last year's total dollars spent – not to celebrate Christ's birth!! Don't know about you but I really am disgusted with the socialist direction our country is heading in and to retaliate, I'd like to see the Christian community refuse to purchase from any business that does not openly recognize the true reason for the season, for openers. Equally important to not buying is to contact those businesses and demand they to stop using the symbols of Christmas if they refuse to use the word Christmas for fear of offending someone because I and thousands like me are offended. Things have gotten to the point where those sitting at the top of the pyramid have evolved into puppeteers and we, the dumb masses, are their puppets. Even so we still have options to exercise. I've heard a number to times about the three boxes we voters have; one is the soap box, another is the ballot box and the third is the bullet box. We recently used the first two (only to get more of the same) and hope the third is never necessary but it seems the puppeteers are backing the dumb masses into the proverbial corner – not a good sign. However there is another option to consider, manipulating profit margins of any public or privately held corporation/business by collectively choosing who to deprive of our money. On a more positive note though, think of the successful Chick-fil-A event this past summer. Take a moment to imagine how it would alter a business's attitude toward respecting the significance of Christmas in their advertisements or at the cash register when their profit margins take a dip. To take this a step further, the same principle applies to curtailing the invasive 4th Amendment abuse by 'our' TSA. For example, if, across our nation, those flying for pleasure during the Christmas holiday used another form of transportation instead to protest TSA abuse, the loss of business revenue would be significant. Not only would airlines loose a bunch of money but so would cabbies, jet fuel suppliers, air terminals and vendors, parking lots, destination facilities, etc. and would get someone's attention. Or how about this, if a business listed on the stock market does not meet their quarterly projections, their investors will show their displeasure by selling shares causing the stock value (operating capital) to take a dive and may even cause the business to close. In other words, assuming Mr. Jilette is correct, if 60 to 70 percent of our population is Christian then we actually have the power to control our country's purse strings, be that government or private, by carefully choosing where and when to spend our money collectively. My attempt to avoid the bullet box – thank you for your patience! Merry Christmas.....Terry Crace
And for anyone who doesn’t think that there is a War on Christmas, check out:
Ray Comfort debuts fun new way of challenging culture to reconsider Christ
A chorus of atheist voices in this country have subtly and effectively driven our children far from the God of their fathers.
Who are these movers and shakers? These voices in movies, music and philosophy who use their positions of cultural influence to drown out the call of Christ?
Starting today, exclusively on WND’s Diversions page, international evangelist Ray Comfort is debuting a fresh and fun new column that will unmask these influential atheists and challenge the culture to rethink the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In each weekly column, you can look forward to guessing who the featured “Famous Atheist” is and enjoy an exclusive drawing of the celebrity from caricature artist Esly Stampek. Then Comfort, author of “God Doesn't Believe in Atheists”, will explain how he would challenge the famous atheist’s views and thinking.
Comfort told WND it’s important for Christians to realize that atheism is every bit as “evangelistic” a faith as their own and that they need to be ready to confront its growth in society.
“An October 2012 Pew poll found that, ‘In the last five years alone, the [religiously] unaffiliated have increased from just over 15 percent to just under 20 percent of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics,’” Comfort explained. “While Christians have been busy with other things, redcoats like Richard Dawkins (and others) have been infiltrating our universities and writing books that are creating God-haters of millions of our young people.
“These men have no conscience when it comes to spreading misinformation about God, the Bible, Christianity, about what they masquerade as science and especially about those they maintain are ‘famous atheists,’” he continued. “They want to bolster their numbers, and they do it with the zeal of religious fanatics. They have one agenda in mind – to get God (especially Christianity) out of the American culture, because with biblical Christianity comes the reality of moral accountability, and that’s not a pleasant thought for ‘free-thinkers.’”
Comfort told WND, however, that the “Famous Atheist” column is about more than simply exposing atheists, but also offering a word of hope to those who have been ensnared by atheist thinking.
“WND has a big and broad platform that extends beyond the church walls, and that excites me, because I have something very important to say,” Comfort told WND. “Recently there was a terrible pileup of vehicles in a Texas fog, resulting in tragic deaths and serious injury. Atheism is a thick fog, and those who find themselves in it have no sense of direction. They have no idea of their origin or their destiny, or even the reason for their own existence. All I want to say to atheists (and those who are tempted to go down that dead-end street) is, ‘Slow down. There’s great danger ahead. By the grace of God I have some light that will guide you out of the fog.’”
Comfort is the founder/president/CEO of Living Waters Publications. From humble beginnings, the ministry has become internationally recognized, reaching the lost and equipping Christians with every necessary resource to fulfill the great commission. In addition to his main ministry, Ray is co-host (with Kirk Cameron) of the award-winning television program “The Way of the Master,” which airs in 70 countries around the world. He also co-hosts a daily radio program by the same name, airing on the Sirius Satellite Radio Network and hundreds of terrestrial stations. He and his wife, Sue, live in Southern California, where they have three grown children.
Look for Comfort’s “Famous Atheists” column appearing this week and every week on WND’s Diversions page!
Wonder why there is a war on Christmas, on Christianity, on religion in general, on Israel? The ultimate goal of the global elite is a new economic world order, globalism, which would also include a one world religion.
Christmas: An American Holiday to Love and Preserve…
The War on Christmas verses the Spirit of Christmas Series at AskMarion – 3
Once upon a time not all that long ago – in fact, anyone over 50 will easily remember it – the word “Christmas” was everywhere during the month of December. Everywhere you looked – in stores, in town squares, in cities, in offices, and, of course, in private homes — there were Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, Christmas cards, Christmas gifts, Christmas parties, and Christmas vacations. Even Jews got into the act… Hanukkah Bushes, Christmas lights in blue and white and an embracement of all the festivities. Just ask Ben Stein.
Christmas was arguably the most beloved of American holidays. Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Thanksgiving were important too; but Christmas was something more. It gave rise to a whole “Christmas season” during which people got into the “Christmas spirit.” The first words of a popular song, recorded by Johnny Mathis as a platinum hit, summed it up perfectly: “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas / Everywhere you go…”
Then something strange began to happen. The very thing that made the “season” special started to disappear from the public arena. Stores no longer held “Christmas sales.” Businesses, and soon after, individuals, ceased to hold “Christmas parties.” And on and on. “Christmas” became a dirty word, and was replaced by “holiday.” The War on Christmas had begun.
We’ve grown so accustomed to the change that we’ve lost sight of just how significant it is. “Christmas” is loaded with meaning and rich in spirit. It imparts rich feelings unlike anything else. “Holiday,” by contrast, is a bland word that can signify anything from Independence Day to Labor Day to “Sweetest Day.” At most, it means a day that you might get off from work if you’re lucky. And nothing else. Saying “holiday” and meaning Christmas is like saying “a long dead politician” and meaning Abraham Lincoln. Technically, it’s not wrong. But the whole significance is lost.
Of course, this didn’t happen by accident. Ask most people how it happened, and they’ll just shrug and say, “political correctness.” And in fact, “PC” is a cruel master, uncaring about what it destroys, and swift to punish those who violate it. So most choose to bow and submit.
But not here. We are part of the The Battle for Christmas. We hope to reclaim the richness and beauty of Christmas. But it’s more. Christmas is a treasure and and part of our heritage that we all should be actively working to preserve our traditional American culture in any and all forms. Because that culture is worth keeping. It’s part of what holds us together and makes us American… including those of us who are not Christians.
“The Celebration of Christmas in America is not Just a Christian Holiday, but a Celebration of our National Past and Our Collective Wishes and Psyche as a Nation!”
In his mawkish 1942 hit "White Christmas," Bing Crosby yearned for a holiday "just like the one I used to know." The extraordinary popularity of Crosby’s nostalgic longing (the all-time top-selling single until it was eclipsed by "Candle in the Wind 1997," Elton John’s mawkish tribute to Princess Diana) suggests the holiday’s tremendous power to revive memories–perhaps only imaginary, idealized memories–of childhood and Christmases past. According to Karal Ann Marling, "Christmas is the universal memory" for contemporary Americans (whether they’re Christian or not), an event in which "virtually everybody has played a part." By telling the story of Americans’ celebration of Christmas, she promises to uncover a surprisingly neglected piece of not only our national past, but our collective wishes and psyche.
Myriad "scraps of Christmas detritus"–and Christmas generates loads of detritus–supply Marling with ample material: Shortly after Halloween, America’s shopping malls and stores are festooned with red and green and stocked from floor to ceiling with Christmas gifts. In the days after Christmas, discarded trees, still dangling tinsel, lie amid trash bags stuffed with discarded wrapping paper and packaging on curbs across the nation. Somewhere in between the shopping bags and the trash bags, millions of Americans attend their annual office party, endure children’s pageants, spend billions of dollars buying presents, cook traditional feasts, and gather with family and friends to exchange gifts and celebrate the nation’s most extravagant holiday. Wrapping paper, lights, ornaments, store window displays, trees, cards, Santas and cookies fill the thematic chapters of Merry Christmas! The history of Christmas, as Marling observes promisingly, is in the details.
Americans commonly assume that Christmas endured for centuries as a solemn religious holiday, before being corrupted by consumer capitalism. As early as the 1870s, critics of Christmas were engaging in "breast-beating over soulless American materialism." In 1949, opponents of the holiday’s excess launched a crusade to "restore" its "original" character. Billboards, posters and bumper stickers urging Americans to "Put Christ Back into Christmas" were a common sight during the holiday season throughout the 1950s. Like many tales of decline, this Christmas story proves a fable. In colonial America, Christmas was either not celebrated at all (it was actually illegal to celebrate the holiday in many Puritan communities), or an occasion for boisterous, drunken revelry.
In fact nearly all of Americans’ Christmas rituals and icons are 19th-century inventions, created to venerate home and family, not the birth of Jesus. Christmas trees, artfully bedecked with ornaments, became the focal point of Americans’ Christmas celebrations in the 1850s. Santa Claus became an icon in the 1860s and 1870s, springing from the pen of cartoonist Thomas Nast. Gift-giving became commonplace in the 1870s and 1880s, as more Americans adopted the practice of purchasing inexpensive, factory-made trinkets–"gewgaws" and "gimcracks"–and wrapping the presents to produce surprise. By century’s end, Christmas had become a legal holiday in every state, and the year’s most eagerly anticipated holiday for millions. In the 1920s, advertisers transformed Santa into a jovial salesman, whose girth and cheerfulness embodied consumer abundance: According to Marling, St. Nick, not that gangly, gaunt Uncle Sam, best personifies America.
As Marling observes, Americans’ celebration of Christmas grew along with material abundance and consumer culture, and the department store window, not the Nativity scene, has always furnished the holiday’s central icon. "Christmas," she writes, "is all about stores and shopping." Conversely, stores and shopping rely heavily on Christmas. Last year, Americans spent a record $184 billion during the Christmas shopping season (officially, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas), and many retailers depend on Christmas sales for one quarter of their annual revenue.
But Marling is most interesting when she discusses the holiday’s paradoxes, which mingle materialism and generosity. Retailers and advertisers deliberately have exploited holidays to encourage consumption, but they have by no means stripped these "holy days" of their deeper meaning altogether. Marling notes that our most materialistic holiday is also ironically "the primary occasion for considering the harsh realities of the world, and those who have no trees and puddings."
As a result, charitable giving to the poor has accompanied the holiday since the 19th century. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which has ranked among Americans’ most beloved Christmas stories since its publication in 1843, offers a largely secular plea on behalf of the less fortunate. Funding charity dinners for the poor at Christmas time became an annual ritual of penance for the well-to-do in American cities in the late 19th century. Wealthy benefactors congratulated themselves for bestowing feasts and presents on their less fortunate neighbors, but could not have failed to recognize the troubling gulf, let alone the connection, between their abundance and others’ privation. Christmas’ mixture of materialism and charity remains paradoxical to our own day: Each December, as it has since 1912, the New York Times juxtaposes full-page advertisements for luxury gifts with small-font reminders urging readers to "Remember the Neediest."
If Christmas provides a "universal memory" for Americans, it is in large part because advertising and celebrating the holiday are so ubiquitous; even Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, railing against the evils on modern technology in his Montana cabin, took time to write Christmas cards to his neighbors each December. Christmas is so omnipresent that many nonbelievers celebrate the holiday, and even members of other faiths cannot altogether ignore it, try as they might. Stephen Nissenbaum, for example, prefaces his own history of the holiday, The Battle for Christmas, with a touching reminiscence of his boyhood memories of Christmas as an outsider growing up in an Orthodox Jewish household.
But surely different groups of Americans have distinct recollections of the holiday. Protestants and Catholics, rich and poor, white, Asian, black and Latino–all have celebrated on December 25, but they have not celebrated alike. Marling’s attempt to delineate the diversity of Christmas traditions, a grab-bag chapter on "Somebody Else’s Christmas," lumps together Christmas in warm climes, white Northerners’ sentimental but patronizing fascination with black Southerners’ humble Christmas celebrations in the 19th century, immigrants’ Christmas traditions, even Kwanzaa. A more systematic discussion would fulfill Marling’s ambition of recasting our understanding of the holiday. And yet, though Merry Christmas! does not completely transform our view of the Christmas we "used to know," it does detail the little gestures and objects that supply the stuff of which Christmases are made.
Chris Rasmussen teaches American history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. During this holiday season, he urges Americans of all faiths to "Put the Christ Back into Christmas."It is part of American heritage and tradition! (Originally Posted in December 2009)
On Glenn Beck’s 2010 Post-Thanksgiving Review Program Rabbi Daniel Lapin (who founded the American Alliance of Christians and Jews) said: Although I am Jewish and do not celebrate Christmas I respect the traditions and the holiday and like the holiday for two good reasons: It helps the economy and it makes people better… (95% of the money spent at Christmastime is for others… rather than for ourselves).
Lapin has spoken against the secularization of Christmas, saying that "We see obsequious regard for faiths like Judaism and even Islam, while Christianity is treated with contempt". He is opposed to replacing the "Merry Christmas" greeting with "Happy Holidays", saying instead "Let us all go out of our way to wish our many wonderful Christian friends a very merry Christmas… Nationwide, Christmas Nativity scenes are banned from city halls and shopping malls but Chanukah menorahs are permitted. One of the latest incidents: School Replaces Baby Jesus With Frosty The Snowman After Pressure From Obama Admin.
A great book on Losing Our Religion by atheist S. E. Cupp, who says she is he perfect person for this book because she has no dog in the hunt, takes on the all too often avoided question and discussion of religion in America…
Once upon a time not all that long ago – in fact, anyone over 50 will easily remember it – the word “Christmas” was everywhere during the month of December. Everywhere you looked – in stores, in town squares, in cities, in offices, and of course… in private homes — there were Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, Christmas cards, Christmas gifts, Christmas parties, Christmas vacations and yes… Nativity Scenes. Even Jews got into the act… Hanukah Bushes, Christmas lights in blue and white and an embracement of all the festivities.
“The More We Enjoy Each Other’s Holidays and Traditions, the More Beautiful the World Looks!”
“I am a Jew and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish, and it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautifully lit-up, bejeweled trees ‘Christmas trees’.” …Ben Stein
Confessions for the Holidaysby Ben Stein
*The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, December 18, 2005.
Here at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:
I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are.
I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I’m buying my dog biscuits. I still don’t know. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores who they are. They don’t know who Nick and Jessica are, either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they’ve broken up? Why are they so darned important?
I don’t know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I don’t care at all about Tom Cruise’s baby.
Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I’m a subversive? Maybe. But I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young? Hm, not so bad.
Next confession: I am a Jew and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish, and it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautifully lit-up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees.
I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are — Christmas trees. It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they’re slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we’re all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year.
It doesn’t bother me one bit that there’s a manger scene on display at a key intersection at my beach house in Malibu.
If people want a creche, fine. The menorah a few hundred yards away is fine, too. I do not like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way. Where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand him? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we used to know went to.
— by Ben Stein: "Confessions for the Holidays." CBS News Transcripts. 18 December 2005.
So let’s take a quick look at where many these traditions came from… that the Atheists and secularists now both fear and fight.
thecommunists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.
Then they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.
Then they came for the trade unionists, I did not protest; I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, I did not protest; I was a Protestant.
Then they came for the Jews, I did not speak out; I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
Election 2014 - What Is Really At Stake
Help Stop Voter Fraud!! Stand for the Constitution and God
Time to remember that: "We Surround Them", not the other way!
Stand Up Against Voter Fraud... Demand Re-Counts and Verification Until It is Right!! A Little Ink Goes a Long Way Toward Honesty... 1 Person 1 Vote... No More Mickey Mouse or Dead People Voting
"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about IT! --Albert Einstein
Call Congress Today and Tell Them To Vote Against Cap and Trade
The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality -- Dante Alighieri / Often Quoted by Mark Twain
Thanks for calling the Congressional switchboard. Keep up the pressure: "NO on Cap and Trade"!!! "NO Vote on Obamacare", NO on another Stimulus Bill, NO to the never ending parade of "Power Grab Bills", and ABSOLUTELY NO on the Climate Change Treaty in Copenhagen!!
"No" on Cap and Trade and "No" on Government Controlled Healthcare!!! And Keep up the good fight! Keep up the Pressure on both the House and Senate! These are 2-fights the American People cannot afford to lose!!!
If you choose not to go this route… call and fax your Senator and as many of them on the list yourself, but don’t sit idly by!!
United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121
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"...there comes a time, ladies and gentlemen, when ideology can cause death. I am so tired, so tired, of zealots, primarily on the left, putting their insane personal agendas above the safety of fellow Americans. Do you think the brave soldiers and Marines operating in dangerous areas right now want [unreleased photos of alleged abuse of prisoners] all over al-Jazeera and the terror websites? So let's look out for the military, OK? Nancy Pelosi has an obligation to get the loons in her party under control. If the Speaker can't do that, she doesn't deserve her position." ... Bill O'Reilly
Updated:If you'd like to contact Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, here's the contact information that you'll need.
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