Keeping Christ in Christmas..........

[Drbio]

Hey, wanna have some fun this CHRISTMAS? Send the ACLU a CHRISTMAS CARD!

As they are working so very hard to get rid of the CHRISTMAS part of this

holiday, we should all send them a nice, CHRISTIAN, card to brighten up

their dark, sad, little world.

Two tons of Christmas cards would freeze their operations because they

wouldn't know if any were regular mail containing contributions.. So spend

37 cents and tell the ACLU to leave Christmas alone.

Here's the Address.

ACLU
"Wishing You Merry Christmas"
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York, NY 10004

[Rhylan]

Originally Posted by Drbio

Hey, wanna have some fun this CHRISTMAS? Send the ACLU a CHRISTMAS CARD!

As they are working so very hard to get rid of the CHRISTMAS part of this

holiday, we should all send them a nice, CHRISTIAN, card to brighten up

their dark, sad, little world.

Two tons of Christmas cards would freeze their operations because they

wouldn't know if any were regular mail containing contributions.. So spend

37 cents and tell the ACLU to leave Christmas alone.

Here's the Address.

ACLU
"Wishing You Merry Christmas"
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York, NY 10004

This might have a better chance getting there if you write the address like this:

ACLU
18th Floor
125 Broad Street
New York, NY 10004


I don't really think "18th Floor" is much of an address in New York.

[u2sarajevo]

I used to get mad when the Elementary school that my daughters attend would have their "Holiday" party, when just 5 years ago the school was calling it a Christmas party. But then it was pointed out to me that Holiday is a derivitave of "Holy" and "Day". Holy Day is Holiday.

So then, just to get on my ever last lovin' nerve again this year the atheists apparently caught wind of that so now the parties are called "Winter Parties".

Winter party huh? Where's the snow?

[Mavdog]

doesn't this belong in the political section?
------------------------------------------------------------------
How The ACLU Didn't Steal Christmas (12/7/2005)
By Fran Quigley, Executive Director, Indiana Civil Liberties Union

When the angry phone calls and emails started arriving at the office, I knew the holiday season was upon us. A typical message shouted that we at the American Civil Liberties Union are "horrible" and "we should be ashamed of ourselves," and then concluded with an incongruous and agitated "Merry Christmas."

We get this type of correspondence a lot, mostly in reaction to a well-organized attempt by extremist groups to demonize the ACLU, crush religious diversity, and make a few bucks in the process. Sadly, this self-interested effort is being promoted in the guise of defending Christmas.

For example, the Alliance Defense Fund celebrates the season with an "It's OK to say Merry Christmas" campaign, implying that the ACLU has challenged such holiday greetings. (As part of the effort, you can get a pamphlet and two Christmas pins for $29.)
The website WorldNetDaily touts a book claiming "a thorough and virulent anti-Christmas campaign is being waged today by liberal activists and ACLU fanatics." The site's magazine has suggested there will be ACLU efforts to remove "In God We Trust" from U.S. currency, fire military chaplains, and expunge all references to God in America's founding documents. (Learn more for just $19.95 . . . )

Of course, there is no "Merry Christmas" lawsuit, nor is there any ACLU litigation about U.S. currency, military chaplains, etc. But the facts are not important to these groups, because their real message is this: By protecting the freedom of Muslims, Jews, and other non-Christians through preventing government entanglement with religion, the ACLU is somehow infringing on the rights of those with majority religious beliefs.

In truth, it is these website Christians who are taking the Christ out of the season. Nowhere in the Sermon on the Mount did Jesus Christ ask that we celebrate His birth with narrow-mindedness and intolerance, especially for those who are already marginalized and persecuted. Instead, the New Testament—like the Torah and the Koran and countless other sacred texts—commands us to love our neighbor, and to comfort the sick and the imprisoned.

That's what the ACLU does. We live in a country filled with people who are sick and disabled, people who are imprisoned, and people who hunger and thirst for justice. Those people come to our Indiana offices for help, at a rate of several hundred a week, usually because they have nowhere else to turn. The least of our brothers and sisters sure aren't getting any help from the Alliance Defense Fund or WorldNet Daily. So, as often as we can, ACLU secures justice for those folks who Jesus worried for the most.

As part of our justice mission, we work hard to protect the rights of free religious expression for all people, including Christians. For example, we recently defended the First Amendment rights of a Baptist minister to preach his message on public streets in southern Indiana. The ACLU intervened on behalf of a Christian valedictorian in a Michigan high school, which agreed to stop censoring religious yearbook entries, and supported the rights of Iowa students to distribute Christian literature at their school.

There are many more examples, because the ACLU is committed to preserving the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom for all. We agree with the U.S. Supreme Court's firm rulings that this freedom means that children who grow up in non-Christian homes should not be made to feel like outsiders in their own community's courthouse, legislature or public schoolhouse.

To our "Merry Christmas" correspondents and all other Hoosiers, we wish you happy holidays.

Fran Quigley is executive director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, www.iclu.org. As of January 1, 2006, the organization is changing its name to ACLU of Indiana.

[u2sarajevo]

No, this is about Christ.... not the ACLU. Christ is not political.

And to the ACLU guy that is wishing me Happy Holidays, thanks for wishing me to have a happy Holy Day. Especially on one of the most holiest of days, Christmas.

[Usually Lurkin]

Dear ACLU Fran,

Hello, I'm depressed, it's part of my identity. Your "happy holidays" offends me. Please refrain from using the word "Happy" at this time of year. Or ever.

-Love, Eeyor

[Mavdog]

Eeyore is just an ass...

pretty funny UL.

[EricaLubarsky]

I think I will continue celebrating Chanukah thank you very much

[XERXES]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

I think I will continue celebrating Chanukah thank you very much

Greg Fokker - So what got you in to, uh, carpentering?
Kevin - Carpentry? (smug laugh) I guess I’d have to say Jesus. He was a carpenter and I just figured if you’re gonna follow in someone’s footsteps, who better than Christ?
Jack – Greg’s Jewish.
Kevin – Are you?
Fokker – Yeah.
Kevin – Well so was J.C. You’re in good company.

[sike]

Originally Posted by XERXES

Greg Fokker - So what got you in to, uh, carpentering?
Kevin - Carpentry? (smug laugh) I guess I’d have to say Jesus. He was a carpenter and I just figured if you’re gonna follow in someone’s footsteps, who better than Christ?
Jack – Greg’s Jewish.
Kevin – Are you?
Fokker – Yeah.
Kevin – Well so was J.C. You’re in good company.

ahhh...that brought a smile to my face....thanks

[sike]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

I think I will continue celebrating Chanukah thank you very much

[Drbio]

I think if someone farted that mavdog would want it in the political forum.

[capitalcity]

Farted? Which direction?

Right or Left?

[capitalcity]

back on topic...

doesn't x-mas really mean christmas? I thought I heard X stood for christ in olde english or something.

[u2sarajevo]

Originally Posted by capitalcity

back on topic...

doesn't x-mas really mean christmas? I thought I heard X stood for christ in olde english or something.

For more on that click here.

[Big Boy Laroux]

ahem, to quote doc.

Who snopes the snopes guys?

[u2sarajevo]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

ahem, to quote doc.

Who snopes the snopes guys?

And if someone snoped the snopes guys... who would snope the snopers of the snope guys?

I guess we should just believe everything we read/hear.

[sike]

Originally Posted by capitalcity

back on topic...

doesn't x-mas really mean christmas? I thought I heard X stood for christ in olde english or something.

in much theological writing an X (actually the captical Greek letter chi) always stands for Christ because the word Christ in the greek begins with a X. "Cristou"

[MavKikiNYC]

And to the ACLU guy that is wishing me Happy Holidays, thanks for wishing me to have a happy Holy Day. Especially on one of the most holiest of days, Christmas.

Happy Holly Daze.

[EricaLubarsky]

Christianity is not the only religion to have holidays around the end of December. Judaism has had holy days for hundreds of years longer than Christianity, and neither religion holds that the end of december is the holiest. Chanukah is maybe the 4th or 5th most holy holiday for Judaism. I don't know my Christianity, but isnt Easter a bigger holiday, and 200 or 400 years ago weren't there 3-4 more holy holidays? Christmas has just become the most popular as it has developed first in Europe and then in the USA. Christmas as it is practiced by most Americans is about giving gifts and putting up a tree, and singing carols-- none of which are even remotely related to Christ. Christmas is a constructed holiday which is basically a christianization of a pagan holiday in name only. we are really kidding ourselves if we think that Christianity has the monopoly on the winter solstice "special days".

I think it is absolutely silly how upset people are getting. It's just another form of propoganda to make christians feel marginalized, when in reality they are only part of America, and are not under any form of attack. We are all free to celebrate our religious customs we all have freedom of speech. I think anyone who is upset at the ACLU is silly.

[u2sarajevo]

How is that quote implying Christianity is the only faith. It only said that Holiday stands for Holy Day, that was the intent anyway. If you are talking about the point about Christmas being a Holy Day, well in my world it is.... I am a Christian.

[EricaLubarsky]

I guess I just don't understand what the whole hubub is about. How exactly is the ACLU trying to destroy Christmas? I mean other than tying antlers to their mut

[MavKikiNYC]

I was only making light commentary, but re EL's take on your quote.....

it sounded as if the writer might be taking offense at the move from the more Christian-specific "Merry Christmas" to a more all-faiths inclusive "Happy Holidays" (or Holy Days), a greeting which would acknowledge that more faiths than Christianity regard this as a significicant time of year, for multiple reasons.....you know,....peace, goodwill toward men, yada yada.

My parents came to NY over Thanksgiving weekend, and I took them to see the Rockettes' Chirstmas Extravaganza. Not something I'd normally do on my own, but since they were in town....I indulged. I have to say that I was really surprised at the demographic--a veritable convocation of tightly permed blue haired weebles sporting nearly-uniform Christmas-tree appliqué sweatshirts, aural enhancement devices, and sensible shoes. But apparently the folks at Radio City Hall know their market, because the show was way, way, way religious-oriented, and of course, heavy on the Christmas story. Like a church pageant on steroids, but with leggy, short-skirted, high-kicking, tap-dancing chorus girls. The show practically finished on a "Three cheers for Baby Jesus!" note.

Now my parents are more Baptist than Billy Graham, so I doubt they took offense. But the Pakistani family seated to my right kind of just sat there in silence. And I guess it caught me by surprise because I just never pictured the Rockettes as all that appropriate message-bearers for Jesus. It was sorta like a stripper showing up in church. I could've done with more dancing, and less....market-driven rah-rah proselytization.

Next time I'll know.

[u2sarajevo]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

I guess I just don't understand what the whole hubub is about. How exactly is the ACLU trying to destroy Christmas? I mean other than tying antlers to their mut

See... now your making this a political discussion.

I don't think the ACLU is trying to destroy Christmas. I myself would never send a Christmas card to the ACLU in an attempt to hinder the flow of business. I even agree with the quoted ACLU Indiana guy in Mavdog's post that the organizations that breathe hatred about the ACLU organization are out to make a buck to push their agenda. I guess the organization has to be funded, but raising money in ways more palatable than using an obvious Conservative hot-button topic and sometimes misunderstood organization like the ACLU to meet their dollar sign goals would be preferred in my eyes.

I do, however, think the ACLU has a large amount of proponents that are "for" silencing religous display when that display has to do with the Christian Faith. That is coming from the viewpoint of a Christian though. I've never heard an ACLU story about keeping a Muslim prayer group from practicing at school. (not anti-Muslim statement there, just using another religion to make a point) And Christmas is a Christian Holiday. Jesus is the reason for the Season (that Season being Christmas in case you think I am being exclusive)

And mavskiki... that is a funny and sad little story. Especially regarding the Pakistani couple that was there. My question is why would they go to a Christmas show if they would be offended by references to Jesus/Christianity? Seems to me that they walked into a situation that could only end in disappointment for them if they aren't Christian.

[MavKikiNYC]

My question is why would they go to a Christmas show if they would be offended by references to Jesus/Christianity? Seems to me that they walked into a situation that could only end in disappointment for them if they aren't Christian.

I guess that they (presumably Muslim), like I (more or less Protestant), wandered in expecting a more secular acknowledgement of the season, than what came awfully close to being Chorus Girls for Christ. I wasn't expecting a heavily religious message, so why should they have? Even if I don't so much have a problem with keeping Christ in Christmas, could we keep las hoocheras out of the Nativity scene, please?

I"ve seen some controversry even among Christians about how to observe the holiday when it falls on a Sunday, and it would be comical if it weren't so ....so.....so....I can't even think of the word.

It's as if these groups are in a competition to see who can pose more righteously and piously.

"Twenty-one services leading up to Christmas Sunday in your mega-church? You think THAT'S righteous? I'll show you righetous! We'll have services morning, noon and night on Christmas Sunday at OUR church."

My Mom told me today that we would be celebrating what amounts to a sort of drive-by Christmas with some of our more evangelically-inclined relatives who live about an hour away. They won't be able to make it for Christmas lunch, because they have to be in church that morning, and they won't be able to stay for dinner, because they have to get back for Sunday night services. So they'll spend a couple of hours on the road, a couple of hours visiting our family, and at least a couple of hours in church, in two doses.

Somehow that seems to me to be trying too hard, and in so doing, missing the point.

[u2sarajevo]

I gotcha. I guess I glanced over the Rockettes part.... that does seem awfully odd.

Somehow that seems to me to be trying too hard, and in so doing, missing the point.

Exactly right. It is missing the point. Well, misdirecting their focus anyway.