As we are still in Christmastide (through January 6, Twelfth Night), my next two posts will address the war on Christmas as seen in the United States.
Secularists and leftists laugh at this notion, but it does exist.
On December 22, 2017, Fox Radio host Todd Starnes had a poignant news story about a Christian couple, Mark and Lynn Wivell, of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Among the Wivells’ outdoor Christmas decorations was a beautiful display that read ‘JESUS’.
Todd Starnes tells us:
A few days later they received an email from the homeowner’s association asking them to remove the sign. One of their neighbors had complained that the “JESUS” display was offensive.
“We know that Christmas was about the birth of Jesus,” Mr. Wivell told the Evening Sun newspaper. “I was quite shocked it offended somebody, but I guess in today’s world I shouldn’t have been.”
The homeowner’s association came up with a brilliant wheeze to get the Wivells to take the sign down:
They argued that the “JESUS” display was a sign – and signs are not permitted.
The Wivells were unmoved and kept the display up. Good! I hope they had a happy and blessed Christmas.
Starnes then discussed the war on Christmas:
Over the past few months we’ve heard the Mainstream Media tell us that Christmas is really not a big deal. They’ve tried to discount the meaning of the holiday.
Public colleges and universities have demanded that Christmas be an all-inclusive holiday — and it should be celebrated without religious references or traditions.
Even some government leaders have tried to erase Christmas from the public marketplace — fearing that people might be offended by the true meaning of the Christmas season.
I will go into that in tomorrow’s post. This war is working. Pew Research Center results prove it.
Starnes came up with his own brilliant strategy for reminding his listeners of the Reason for the season:
And that’s why I’ve started a new tradition at the Todd Starnes Show. Beginning this Christmas, I will read the Gospel of Luke’s account of the birth of Christ on the radio — verse by verse.
So I hope you will take a moment to our recitation of the birth of Christ …
Merry Christmas, America!
Well played! It’s about time.
19 comments
January 1, 2018 at 10:50 pm
Jamie Carter
Christmastide? What – are protestants renouncing their ways, becoming liturgical, and celebrating Epiphany? Maybe we’ll bring back All Soul’s Day, All Saint’s Day, and All Hallow Eve’s traditional liturgical celebrations while we’re at it. And Lent – all forty days of it.
Homeowners Associations are generally particularly picky. You live in their neighborhood and you abide by their rules. We had deal with one once that didn’t like our grass being a quarter of an inch too high – they fined us and we had to fight it at the quarterly meeting in front of the review board. If you aren’t willing to abide by their terms – then don’t live in those neighborhoods that have them. It doesn’t mean that they’re out to kill Christmas.
When I picture “war” I imagine an army clad in red and green, trying to beat the fear of Santa Claus into the naysayers with candy canes. Seriously – a war isn’t on, just a difference of opinion – which is totally within our constitutional rights. You can believe what you want – but the evidence was obvious – Christmas is big. Everywhere I went, people said “Merry Christmas” not “Happy Hanukkah” or “Joyful Kwanzaa”. I saw nativity scenes everywhere I looked – they outpaced Santa Clauses. Everyone told me that Jesus is the reason for the season. If you guys think you’re at war – who are you fighting? You’re the only side that’s represented.
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January 1, 2018 at 11:57 pm
churchmouse
We’re not at war with Christmas opponents.
They chose to be at war with us.
Happy New Year.
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January 1, 2018 at 11:58 pm
Jamie Carter
“They” who?
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January 2, 2018 at 12:00 am
churchmouse
The people — ACLU, PC folks, Democrats, etc.
Thanks for your time, Jamie.
You’re more heated about it than I am.
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January 2, 2018 at 1:17 am
Jamie Carter
As it is written: “Truth eludes he who does not seek it with both eyes wide.” Believing that there is a war on doesn’t necessarily make it so.
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January 2, 2018 at 1:40 am
churchmouse
Thank you (not) for the quote from the Book of Origin.
Your personal perception doesn’t make the Christmas situation anything less. I did say I was exploring the subject in the next post, based on recent Pew Research.
Sorry, you will not be part of that conversation.
This third comment was your last.
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January 2, 2018 at 10:25 am
jameshigham
Not sure too many are laughing now, CM. It’s quite obvious really.
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January 2, 2018 at 10:27 am
churchmouse
The American left laugh.
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January 2, 2018 at 10:02 pm
War on Christmas has impact on Americans | Churchmouse Campanologist
[…] I mentioned yesterday, slowly but surely, the war on Christmas is making more incursions in the United […]
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January 4, 2018 at 1:22 am
OIKOS™-Redaktion
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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January 5, 2018 at 1:10 am
churchmouse
Thank you very much for the reblog — greatly appreciated!
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January 4, 2018 at 1:24 am
OIKOS™-Redaktion
Thank you very much for these postings about “war on Christmas”. Its true!
Wish you a blessed and properious New Year! Michael 😉
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January 5, 2018 at 1:19 am
churchmouse
I would be very interested to hear your perspective on the war on Christmas in Germany, however brief.
Everyone in the UK (and France) wishes each other a Happy Christmas (or Joyeux Noel).
I’ve lived here for nearly half my life and have heard and read very few anti-Christmas messages. Most of what I have read in the papers is anti-materialism, a misunderstanding of John the Baptist’s message of charity preceding the Messiah — Jesus.
Perhaps the anti-materialism message is where it starts. It did in the US in the 1970s and 1980s. A warning to UK readers, perhaps.
Thank you very much for your New Year’s greeting. In turn, I also wish you and your family a happy, healthy and prosperous 2018!
Thank you for being such a faithful reader and proper (korrect) reblogger! 🙂
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January 5, 2018 at 1:29 am
OIKOS™-Redaktion
Hello, thank you for the compliment. I am ashamed. The “war on Christmas” here in our region was mysterious. You got no idea what Christmas really shou
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January 5, 2018 at 1:30 am
OIKOS™-Redaktion
soory!
what Christmas really is. All action was in buying things. ;-(
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January 5, 2018 at 2:08 am
churchmouse
Okay, but did you wish each other a Merry — or Happy — Christmas? Were there Christmas markets? Christmas decorations? Christmas church services?
Our local building society always has a lovely tree with cute animals — as well as a Nativity creche, supplied by local nuns.
My non-Christian newsagent was delighted — and eager to volunteer — to show me photos of his family’s Christmas. (I did not have to ask.) I saw his family’s Christmas tree and his Christmas dinner table, complete with all the traditional English dishes. His shop was also decorated from the end of November.
I know that believers could take that negatively, but once we drift from the word and idea of ‘Christmas’, everything else falls.
The biblical and Christian understanding is another concept and subject altogether, but demeaning the day and the season starts with the simplest of concepts — removing ‘Christmas’ from the narrative.
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January 5, 2018 at 2:17 am
OIKOS™-Redaktion
Okay, but did you wish each other a Merry — or Happy — Christmas?
———–
Yes, this happens as always.
Were there Christmas markets? Christmas decorations? Christmas church services?
———–
Yes, there were also Christmas markets and special churchs services,
but the decoration was not so special Christmas like. Only Santa Clause was there.
Since years we only have a official tree in town, but only with poor illumination.
There was and is no Nativity creech. ;-( neither in the public, nor in the church.
Seems to be the very “modern art”. ;-(
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January 5, 2018 at 2:42 am
churchmouse
Thank you very much for elaborating.
I’m so sorry to read your account — especially about the Nativity crèche.
It’s shocking that your church didn’t even have a crèche. Ours certainly did.
We had a great Christmas tree in the centre of town. The non-Christians, in particular, loved the lighting ceremony. We had traditional carols (all verses), which the local choir sang beautifully.
I pray the best for your town and hope that ours stays the same. We’ve become so used to a public lighting ceremony with traditional carols that to do away with that — despite a large non-Christian community — would be shocking.
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January 4, 2018 at 4:42 pm
Detail from Pew Research on Christmas celebrations and beliefs in the US | Churchmouse Campanologist
[…] On Monday, I explained that there really is a war on Christmas: Jesus offends. […]
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