"How the ACLU Didn't Steal Christmas"

When the angry phone calls and e-mails 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 affiliate in Indiana are "horrible" and "we should be ashamed of ourselves," 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 Web site, 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 . . . )

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1206-23.htm

on local Indianapolis wingnut Greg Garrison's radio show yesterday a caller who had apparently seen a made for tv movie about the Pope which depicted the communist government in Poland suppressing the church and as the caller said "tearing crosses off churches". He then said that the ACLU was doing the same thing now, basically equating the ACLU to Stalin, to which the brilliant host wholeheartedly agreed! I suppose it is difficult to see the "subtle" difference between a private organization working to keep religious expression free from government interference and a government tearing down churches... if you are an idiot. Truly the effect of fear upon ignorance is a powerful thing.

in African-American churches.

Tear Down the Cross
Why is President Bush supporting a group trying to convince African-American churches to literally throw their crosses in the trash?
by John Gorenfeld, Contributor
12.21.04

This wintry season, as the faithful continue to receive alarming reports from the news that Republicans are all that stand between them and the outlawing of Christmas itself by hordes of secular humanists, the two presidents Bush have endorsed a powerful conservative interest group specializing in removing the cross -- not from schools or courthouses, but from churches.

Rather than the traditional egg hunt, this group, calling itself the American Clergy Leadership Conference, sponsored a nationwide "Tear Down The Cross" day for Easter, 2003. Last week, leaders in this radical cause presided over a Washington prayer breakfast featuring messages of thanks from the presidents. Former Senator Bob Dole came in person.

Mostly African-American, pastors who joined in 2003's ACLC-sponsored "Tear Down The Cross" won gold watches from the wealthy group, which unabashedly claims in its publications to have stripped churches of over a hundred crosses over the Easter holiday alone. This, movement leaders said, cleared the way for a new age and second messiah.

Speaking of messiahs, make a quick stop at the web site of the ACLC, and it's clear there's more to it than the "rapidly growing movement of clergy committed to the endeavor of making this nation the best that it can be," as the ACLC described itself in a December 8 Washington Times op-ed. It's actually a vehicle for Sun Myung Moon, the billionaire conservative donor who calls himself the True Father.
http://gadflyer.com/articles/?ArticleID=258

The moonies aren't the government.

the ACLU supposedly trying to tear down crosses when a man who claims that he is the true Messiah and has many ties to the Bush family has already embarked on a tear down the cross campaign.

'Scuse me.

But yeah, the right wing idealogues have apparently found an issue they can rally the base around (despite a total disconnect with common sense).

There are a few Christians around who see acknowledgement of other religions as an attack on Christianity.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

That'll shut them up.

Love thy neighbor as thy self. :shrug:

They took all the fun out of it by making it a controversy.

Let's not forget the original reason for the shift to happy holidays. It was in respect for Jewish people who did not celebrate Christmas. That is a perfectly acceptable reason. It did not arise because of concern about atheists.

(If someone has no beliefs, then I have little concern about offending their non-existent beliefs.)