I wish you all a pleasant holiday, a safe 2006, and that you may get joy
> from that smile you'll get when you present somebody with that piece
> you've built for them.
>
Why not have a bit of fun to end the year?
Want to 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.
Make sure it says "Merry Christmas" on it.
Here's the Address, just don't be rude or crude. (It's Not the Christian Way you know?)
ACLU
125 Broad Street
18th Floor New York, NY 10004
First neat thing my Sister-in-Law has ever forwarded.
Thanks Rob, and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone out there too. This is indeed a great group. I've learned a lot here, and look forward to contributing when I get a bit more skilled. Have a happy and safe 2006!
This is absolutely untrue. The American Civil Liberties Union devoted to the protection of individual citizens under the Bill of Rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States members are mostly Christians themselves. They are in no way trying to get rid of Christmas nor Christianity. Which of your civil liberties would you be willing to surrender?
we should all send them a nice, CHRISTIAN, card to brighten up
Actually I did some research on the issue of the ACLU "War on Christmas" and found this story: Last December, a group called Public Advocate for the United States (which claims to defend America's traditional family values) sent some Christmas carolers over to sing in front of the ACLU offices in Washington. Carrying signs reading "Merry Christmas" and "Please Don't Sue Us!" - they also seem to have carried with them some rather strange imaginings about an assault on Christmas. I don't know what the carolers thought might happen.
To tell the truth, the ACLU is not often serenaded by Christmas carolers. So it was with some excitement that the staff went outside and joined in the singing. They brought with them cookies and warm drinks to share. One staff member, who is an ordained Baptist minister, did a little witnessing about his faith to some astonished proponents of family values.
Fox News did broadcast the event (as a part of its "war against Christmas" campaign). Although the visiting singers were shown, the cameras failed to include any footage showing that everyone had participated in the caroling. Rather than reporting the facts, the anchor preferred the propaganda: "We believe the ACLU heard the message loud and clear, but they don't care."
The battle cries
This year, several groups are once again introducing the Christmas season with some heated and misleading military rhetoric. Some declare, "There is a war against Christmas!" One group launched a "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign." One particularly bizarre charge is that there is "a thorough and virulent anti-Christmas campaign." Without a shred of evidence, they pretend that there is an effort afoot to remove "God" from the Declaration of Independence. Two groups even announced that they have assembled hundreds of lawyers to protect Christmas against this imaginary threat.
Make no mistake about it. These warrior-lawyers are not asking us to love our neighbors (and certainly not our enemies), nor to turn the other cheek, nor to be peacemakers, nor to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.
Nor is this a joyful effort to encourage the Christmas spirit in the millions of places where it can be promoted without any conflict: in people's hearts, in their homes, with families, in churches, or with friend and neighbors.
No, this is a campaign of military-infused rhetoric demanding that everyone accept one politically correct version of "Christmas."
For example, this year in Boston - the same city where Puritans once prohibited the pagan-inspired "Christmas tree" - the new Puritans now demand that the city call its evergreen spruce a "Christmas tree," and they threatened a lawsuit if the city didn't comply.
Another group charges that there is a "campaign of fear, intimidation, and disinformation" against seasonal symbols in Raleigh, N.C. - and they offer to provide a defense for the city against any threatened lawsuit. Yet they give no evidence that anyone is threatening a lawsuit. Before accusing others of engaging in "disinformation," perhaps these Christmas warriors should first take a look in the mirror.
Thanks - even though I'm probably not one of them. ;-) And a very Merry Christmas to you as well.
But after reading some of the posts which followed your gracious proclamation of Good Will, as well as some of the other current threads in the wreck, I must respond thusly:
So the freaking insanity continues. Add another log to the fire that blazes up from the blackened coals of bias - consuming and polarizing our society. The ludicrous sniping and propaganda which saturates this country with the bile of hostility, and which originates from both political camps concerning just about every damned aspect of modern life, is sickening at best. And a grand distraction of time, effort, and monumental consequences at it's worst.
This ubiquitous bipolar bitterness shames me as an American Citizen. A spoiled bunch of whining narcissists who have had it better than most of the world for generations - who not only don't appreciate that fact, but have seemingly cast aside the common sense to nurture it. Rabid finger pointing and hypercritical obsession over the most trivial of things - instead of problem solving and genuine solutions. Flaring tempers and vehement rhetoric devoid of reason are not the tools you use to build a grand article of furniture, nor are they of any more use in building and managing a grand homeland.
This is a country made up of many religions, races, and backgrounds. It is not owned by any one segment of the population any more than it should be governed by any one faction. It is a fair and equitable place where people should want to live in Harmony and Peace, free to worship whatever religion they chose. As long as you aren't being threatened with a club or watching your rights or chattel vanish over the next hill, it's not your concern how another lives or worships. The diversity and creativity of America's population is a major factor that made it a shining beacon to the world as the land of Freedom.
But the smokescreen of polarization is tearing this country down. Worse than roving bands of thieves in the dark forest, these people are stealing our ability to effect social change, to solve real problems, and even to simply get along with our neighbors. Lemmings who have to paint everything in life either Red or Blue.
But just as it's been throughout the eon, the actual truth lies somewhere between the two captious extremes. Truth - it is the White which separates the Red and Blue.
As for the ACLU, they are not anti-Christian. In 2002 Jerry Falwell teamed up with the "anti-Christ" ACLU to help secure the religious freedoms of Christians in Virginia.
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ACLU also assisted Pat Robertson's son to set up Churches, by challenging an ordinance that prohibited Churches on certain properties. They also protected the civil rights of a Christian Church that wanted to baptize it's members in a public river.
What IS true is that they have sued for the removal of overt religious artifacts from government grounds. As per our Constitution. Besides, explain to me what meaning the act of swearing upon a Christian bible to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" has to a Muslim or Buddhist?
But as with everything else these days, this is expanded upon by creative spin-meisters and stupid administrators to include the banning of Christmas Cards exchanged by students at public schools, and the removal of private nativity displays. I can find no evidence that the ACLU has ever undertaken any such crusades. A public school cannot coerce or sanction such exchanges, but students who might exchange cards celebrating whatever religious beliefs they may have are not restrained. And neither are private displays of religious beliefs. This would be a violation of our right to free expression.
It's not a monochromatic world out there, it's Technicolor. And not many of us want to march lock-step to any particular brand of segregation, nor want it rammed down our throats. We want to live out our lives, free and unfettered by the mantra of hatred - especially when inspired by the lust for gold or acclaim. But row by row we continue to sow the seeds of resentment and bigotry. And the yield of this crop is social unrest. We inch another step towards resembling, more than anything, the extremists in Iraq with each passing day. Liberal this, and Neo-Con that. Christian this, and Muslim that. Us vs. Them. Like it or not, the Crusades are over. The hate-mongers can't even shut-up long enough to celebrate a holiday season that, for Christians, should represent peace, love, and understanding. What would Jesus say about this?
Can't you give it a rest for one day? After all, isn't that what Christmas is about?
Nobody anywhere is prohibiting any American from saying Merry Christmas. The words "Merry Christmas" is being exchanged across the USA by the multi millions. Please tell me where or when you have not been able to say "Merry Christmas" to anyone please tell us where or when it happened to you.
Thanks. I'm keeping this to use as a response too all those family members who keep sending me all this religious crap about christmas and how it's being taken away.
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