Ah... Thanksgiving Day... A perfect time for a Christmas-themed story...
Would someone please explain to these dingbats that Santa Claus is not a religious figure?
"Because of our state affiliation, we decided not to have a Santa presence this year," Hollings spokeswoman Vicky Agnew said. Hollings is a part of the Medical University of South Carolina.
Decorations will be "more secular and respectful to all beliefs," Agnew said. "We don't want to offend a volunteer with good intentions, but we need to think of the bigger picture. People who are Muslim or Jewish or have no religious beliefs come here for treatment," she said. (Cancer Center’s Santa Gets the Boot)First off, I really doubt any atheists, Jews or Muslims would be offended by the Jolly Old Elf, who is after all NOT A RELIGIOUS FIGURE!
And of course, even when the ACLU is not involved, it’s influence still hangs in the air like a noxious, flatulent cloud…
The director of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union declined comment but pointed to the association's national website. It said while "some limited governmental celebrations of Christmas are not per se unconstitutional ... the burden for the government to show that its activities do not have the purpose or effect of endorsing a religious message is high."This official stupidity resulted in a firestorm of criticism, so the petty bureaucrats announced that Santa would be invited back. Maybe they were worried about getting coal in their stockings...
Got Christmas?
So does the federal government listing Christmas as one of its ten official federal holidays constitute endorsement of Christianity? If not, then the Santa-phobes need to check themselves and take the sticks out of their rears. Do you get a Christmas holiday off from work or school? If so, thank Jesus! After all, the holiday was named in his honor.
After all, it's not Santamas.
ReplyDeleteThere is, of course, a connection with St. Nicholas.
It's become a secular holiday. Has been for some time.
ReplyDeleteHappy Black Friday !!!
Capitalism Rules !!!
It is what we allow; at my house, it's nothing secular, trust me. Though I have a huge collection of Santas in all sorts of sizes and shapes...all beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAt Christmas Show I'm producing and performing for (240 men and women in the audience), the children are performing and their leaders asked me for NO SANTA CLAUSE songs (which I find utterly ridiculous but I will comply)
It's a fun show and the kids will be cheerful and joyful and get to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus ...but the adult part of the show is beautiful solos by four women and some other stuff.
I think if America invites Santa Back, we'll be a lot better off, myself :) On a myriad of levels.
Santa Clause is not a Religious Figure!
ReplyDeleteOf course, but if you listen to the leftwing atheists you'd never know it.
They will wind up taking the word G-D off of everything that we cherish if we let them, or if Obama gets his way.
Jarhead, you just proved why we try to keep our government secular - you can't even spell God!
ReplyDeleteDo you who sued to allow kids to skip the Pledge of Allegiance (religious undertone and all) - the Jehovah's Witnesses! Do you who founded Americans United for Separation of Church and State? Protestant ministers who were fighting against the Catholics! Do you know who runs it today? A minister. And it goes on and on.
The best reason to keep church and state separate is the diversity of our sectarians.
JMJ
It's Thanksgiving day. I am, personally, thankful we still have the right -- though I fear it is threatened more each day by the dictates of Political Correctness -- to share thoughts, feelings, opinions and knowledge freely without fear of being carted away by the authorities to some "Re-education Center" to have our brains washed clean of "Thoughts Not Conducive to the Best Interests of the State."
ReplyDeleteIn honor of that precious freedom I offer a bit of stern philosophy to commemorate this uniquely American occasion:
On Giving Thanks
Once upon a time we knew that life
Never guarantees us anything.
Given that, why not just plunge a knife
Into your heart? No form of nannying
Vitiates vicissitude, and yet
Imagination hopes to set aside
Natural Law, which which says we’re all in debt.
God, the Source of Life, can just provide
The chance to be whatever we can be.
Happiness is found along the way
Achieving what we may with Charity.
No panacea can this truth gainsay.
Kings and vassals ~ equal in God’s sight ~
Should each give thanks for fighting the good fight.
~ FreeThinke, The Sandpiper, Autumn 1996
Hey! What's the meaning of the peculiar spelling in today's headline -- i.e. Santa Clause? I don't believe I've ever seen an "e" at the end of Santa's name before? What satirical implication or subtle innuendo might I be missing?
ReplyDeleteIf we merely want to be different, why not Santa CLAWS? Hmmmm?
~ FreeThinke
FreeThinke,
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you should post a comment about that most important of freedoms -- freedom of speech. My Thanksgiving post this year is on that very topic.
I am very concerned that we're in danger of being muzzled by political correctness. The inroads are multiple.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving, FT.
Holidays hold a lot of sad memories for me now that all of my parents' generation is absent from the table. We lost the last member of my parents' generation in my family last year just before Thanksgiving. **sigh**
Thanks, AOW, for reminding us that the name "Santa Claus" is derived from SAINT Nicholas. So in a very real sense Santa is very much connected to our Christian Tradition, even though most of us have either forgotten it, or ever knew it in the first place.
ReplyDeleteBecause "CHRIST" is squarely and very prominently a part of the term "Christmas," itself, and because Santa Claus -- even though he represents the more secular, materialistic aspect of the celebration of Our Lord's Birth -- is still specifically and inextricably intertwined with Christmas -- not Chanukah, Ramadan, or the Chinese New Year -- it naturally would "offend" the dreary Cultural Marxists who have made a career of joyless, sour-mouthed iconoclasm and relentless antagonism towards anything and everything that makes White Christians feel comfortable with themselves and their cherished traditions.
After all, Clement Clarke Moore, who gave us our uniquely American image of "St. Nicholas" as a "plump, right jolly old elf" was a learned professor of Oriental Languages at a theological seminary and a prominent, highly influential member of New York’s Trinity Church.
~ FreeThinke
Of course, Santa is NOT a religious figure, what dingbat and the ACLU, well we all know they are.
ReplyDeleteWhat part of Christmas do these people not understand? It is the celebration of the birth of our wonderful Messiah.
Ducky, it is NOT a secular holiday, contrary to liberal belief, it is still a very beautiful time for believers in Jesus Christ to celebrate His birth.
AOW, I understand very well the melancholy aspects of the holiday season. I'm in a very similar position to yours, myself.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I make every effort to draw inspiration from Ebenezer Scrooge, who was awakened to the joy of living in the present by visiting poignant scenes from his past.
As long as there is someone to share things with -- someone to whom you can give your love and devotion -- everything good about the past can still be shared. The past lives on in those of us who remember it with affection and ever-increasing appreciation.
And even though tears may come to our eyes thinking of all that has been lost, those very tears bring us back in close touch with every good influence we've ever known -- and in that there can be a quiet kind of joy.
May God bless you, and your husband -- and all of us -- this very special day.
"Let us give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. For His mercy endureth forever ..."
~ FreeThinke
On Thanksgiving
ReplyDeleteOf all events parading through the year
Not one can to this humble feast compare.
To feel or offer thanks today is rare --
However well our lives remain in gear.
As ease became the norm, we soon forgot
None of Plymouth’s Pilgrims felt regret.
Knowing death and cruel privation’s threat
Spoiled not their faith, or made them curse their lot.
Given much yet now we seem to crave
Immeasurable bounty we don’t need --
Voluptuous excess revealing Greed --
Indolence -- Indifference to the fine and brave.
No pilgrim, pioneer or great tycoon*
Grew up to be a self-indulgent goon.
~ FreeThinke - 11/24/11
________________________
*Tycoon
1. A wealthy and powerful businessperson or industrialist; a magnate.
2. Used formerly as a title for a Japanese shogun.
ETYMOLOGY:
Japanese taikun, title of a shogun, of Chinese origin
WORD HISTORY:
Claims have been made in today's global economy that some business leaders have more power than heads of states. It is etymologically fitting that such leaders are sometimes called tycoons. Tycoon came into English from Japanese, which had borrowed the title, meaning "great prince," from Chinese. Use of the word was intended to make the shogun, the commander in chief of the Japanese army, more impressive to foreigners (his official title shgun merely meant "general"). It worked with Matthew C. Perry, who opened Japan to the West in 1854; Perry carried out his negotiations with the shogun, thinking him to be the emperor. In fact, the shogun did rule Japan, although he was supposedly acting for the emperor. The shogun's title, taikun, was brought back to the United States after Perry's visit. Abraham Lincoln's cabinet members used tycoon as an affectionate nickname for the President. The word soon came to be used for business and industry leadersat times being applied to figures like J. P. Morgan, who may indeed have wielded more power than many princes and presidents.
~ Merriam Webster, 11th edition, online text
Food for thought as well as tummy
May to thinkers taste quite yummy.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
~ FreeThinke
FT: The Santa Clause is a codicil attached to public law that declares certain days to be public federal holidays.
ReplyDeleteOK, just joking... Headline corrected.
Jersey: Good job arguing against something no one here argued for.
ReplyDeleteSo where do you stand on Christmas (a blatant Christian feast day) as a federal holiday?
"So where do you stand on Christmas (a blatant Christian feast day) as a federal holiday?"
ReplyDeleteI give it five more years. And I am always mindful of that and always grateful it's not happened yet; But, with every new film showing Santa as an alcoholic, with every TV ad showing Christmas as nothing but a greedy bunch of shoppers, with every store calling a tree that stands for NOTHING but Christmas "Holiday Trees", with stores telling their employees not to say Merry Christmas...
well...how much longer?
And, our Christian kids are having it taught out of them in strange and subtle ways at Universities. At Wheaton, a grad from the high school I'm associated with chose to write something on her strong Christian faith in a theology class; the teacher won't look at her, even walking down the hall to avoid her. times are tough out there; that story's only one.
Jersey McJones are always that stupid or is today an exception?
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving Jarhead, ignore that IDIOT, and forgive him he's a Liberal.
And thank God liberialism wasn't around back in the days of the Pilgrims or we wouldn't be having Thanksgiving today!
One only wonders to whom does the atheist Obama lovers give thanks to?
"So where do you stand on Christmas (a blatant Christian feast day) as a federal holiday?"
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice family holiday - HOLIDAY. A day ironically away from capitalism.
JMJ
I'm glad you don't object, Jersey.
ReplyDeleteChristmas "A day ironically away from capitalism." ???
Christmas is the biggest capitalist shop-fest on the calendar!
For a poor family getting together on a day off work, it's a lot more than that, Silver.
ReplyDeleteJMJ
I never said otherwise, Jersey.
ReplyDeleteI was challenging your statement
"A day ironically away from capitalism."
Arguably, the joy most feel at this holiday would be snuffed if not for rampant shopping.
And what's ironic about it?
Summation
ReplyDeleteThank God for family.
Thank God for friends.
Thank God for life,
Even in strife.
What a pity it ends
As we're following trends
Before we could hope
To start making amends!
Live and let live,
And above all forgive.
~ FreeThinke - 11/24/11
I wouldn't worry so much, Z, if I were you. After all our Christian faith got its start in an atmosphere of brutal hostility and oppression of the worst kind imaginable. The soil at the foot of The Cross was soaked in Christ's all-too-human blood. Most of the Apostles were martyred -- brutally murdered by the same barbaric authority that ordered the Crucifixion. Yet the faith grew and spread.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough -- perhaps even perversely -- Christianity seems to thrive most in a climate of extreme adversity.
The running dispute over the public display of largely secular symbols over which we now cluck our tongues in decorous distress has very little to do with the spiritual essence and true meaning of Jesus' life on earth.
If He doesn't live in our hearts, and our behavior in daily life and we don't reveal His presence there, He is dead to us no matter how many Santa dolls we own, how many Christmas trees we decorate, or how many cookies we bake.
If we work continually to strengthen our faith, raise our spirits, and reach out to help mend broken hearts, and lift others out of their distress, the rest of it will sort itself out in due time -- or will simply cease to matter.
It's not up to you or me to change the world, but rather to be transformed through the continual renewing of our minds.
Finger pointing, whining, and complaining is what liberals do. Christians neutralize evil by absorbing it. In that way it stops with them and doesn't spread.
~ FreeThinke
Yeah, I never really got that association. Jesus...Santa. Nope.
ReplyDeleteThey don't have a hang up with Christmas or Santa Claus in Japan, India, Indonesia
ReplyDeletehttp://nimg.sulekha.com/others/original700/japan-santa-claus-2008-11-26-2-3-47.jpg
http://www.mumbaikar.com/en/media/get/20091223_large-india-santa.jpg
http://www.clarin.com/mundo/NAVIDAD-India-Santa-Claus-NicolasAFP_CLAIMA20101224_0170_7.jpg
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/25/xinsrc_46212062509419371440921.jpg
http://www.imagesofanthropology.com/images/g.Santa_Claus_in_Merida_Mexico.jpg
Isn't odd, outside of the hardcore Islamic and Communist countries, no seems to have trouble with Santa Claus or Christmas except in the USA?
Didn't Thomas Jefferson postulate about the separation of Santa and state?
ReplyDeleteReligious figure or not, they don't like anything closely related to Christianity, such is the hatred and irrational fear.
ReplyDeleteHappy thanksgiving Silver, i'm heading off for a break now, so take care and an early merry christmas to you.
I am surprised we still get the day off. Either way, I am glad we still can give thanks on both of these days. Christmas and Thanksgiving. Otherwise, to those who complain, Bah Humbug.
ReplyDeleteFree us from the religious tyranny of Santa! All hail the 12th Immam! No Gods no Masters! Bring back Mabon! We are the 99%! er, ramble...
ReplyDeleteHappy belated Thanksgiving.
Jersey said:
ReplyDelete"It's a nice family holiday - HOLIDAY. A day ironically away from capitalism."
Capitalism is nothing more than our own freedom as individuals to control our economic lives.
A day without capitalism is like a day with socialism/fascism.
What you said makes little sense.
The left despises the notion of inculcating the practice of self-discipline in the young.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
Because it tends to make them less dependent on the State.
SO, here it is the nucleus of the Nanny-Statists' hatred of Santa Claus in this timeless tuneful advice to children of all ages:
You'd better watch out,
You'd better not cry,
You'd better not pout,
I'm telling you why:
SANTA CLAUS IS COMING to TOWN.
He knows if you've been sleeping.
He knows if you're awake.
He knows if you've been bad or good,
So be good, for Heaven's sake.
SO,
You'd better watch out,
You'd better not cry,
You'd better not pout,
I'm telling you why:
SANTA CLAUS IS COMING to TOWN!
He's that big fat man with the long white beard
HE's COMING to TOWN!!!
~ FreeThinke
I disagree that Santa Claus -- as seen in the early European models, in Clement Clarke Moore's whimsical guise, and in the famous letter we know today as "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" by a New York newspaper editor to a wistful little girl as well -- has nothing to whatsoever do with Jesus.
ReplyDeleteThe spirit of kindness, generosity, care and concern for others, overt signs of celebration at the Arrival of Our Salvation, getting in touch with our "better angels" is infectious. Only those possessed by evil impulses could frown on such an occasion or wish to hide the Signs and Symbols that evoke the Spirit of Joy in those receptive to it and not demon-possessed by cynicism, captiousness or hostile ethno-centrism.
At root Christmas is about nothing more or less the Birth of the Rule of Love -- something to salute and celebrate -- not quibble over.
People who think they hate Love -- and it's man messengers at once mystical, majestic and merry -- also hate God. Their foul attitude brings about it's own punishment.
Have you ever known anyone more miserable and dreary than your typical liberal?
Well yes, religious fundamentalists run them a close second.
ANY doctrine fanatically determined to persuade, coerce you or terrify you to mind anyone's business other than you own, is NOT godly.
~ FreeThinke
I understand quite well the Nativity story and the Story of St Nicholas.
ReplyDeleteOur American Santa may be based upon those things, but he is a secular figure that fits with the popular conception of our "Holy Day" being nothing more than a big shop-a-thon leading up to a day off of work to spend with friends and family.
It's the same as the Muslims saying they revere Jesus as a great prophet, but not the Christ, God incarnate.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice sentiment, but it's wrong, and no one can convince them otherwise.
Silverfiddle,
ReplyDeleteI hope that you and your family had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.
Today Santa Claus has been made into a secular figure for monetary purposes.
Always On Watch points out (rightly so) the connection between St. Nicholas and Santa Claus. It is sad that the knowledge of this connection has been stripped out of our culture.