Tag Archives: holidays

Father God and Mother Nature

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During Lent last year, the Saint Mary’s campus did the traditional Stations of the
Cross and a new Earth Stations.

Turgi said the Earth Stations recalled the suffering of the Earth as the body of
God.

Can you say “heresy” boys and girls? I’m a big fan of being good stewards of God’s creation, but this just ain’t kosher.

An Atheist Christmas Special

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Theomorph presents an interesting view on sacred versus profane Christmas debates. Unlike a lot of secularists, he’s not hostile toward religious expression. Perhaps it’s because he was once Christian. Then again, maybe he’s just a nice guy. 😉

On a somewhat related note, here’s an article about the growing popularity of Festivus.

Senatus Populusque Americae?

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Readers of this blog may know the following things about me:

  1. I’m not a fan of George W. Bush
  2. I’ve compared the U.S.A. to the Roman Empire
  3. I believe in a strict interpretation of the just war doctrine that proscribes
    war in most cases.
  4. I didn’t agree with the invasion of Iraq. In fact, I participated in a large anti-war rally in Pittsburgh.
  5. I dislike the fact that the Church co-opted pagan winter celebrations with Christmas in a bid to gain more converts.
  6. I loathe the commercialization of Christmas by Christians. Let the pagans, heathens, and faithful of other religions spend their money how they please. We should be following the examples of Christ and His apostles.

Knowing these things, a reader might be led to believe that I’d agree with the conclusions
presented in “The
politics of the Christmas story” by James Carroll of the Boston Globe.
That reader would be wrong.

Continue reading →

Neutering Christmas

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” The attempts to de-Christianize Christmas are as absurd as they are relentless. The United States today is the most tolerant and diverse society in history. It celebrates all faiths with an open heart and open-mindedness that, compared to even the most advanced countries in Europe, are unique.”

“Yet more than 80 percent of Americans are Christian, and probably 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas. Christmas Day is an official federal holiday, the only day of the entire year when, for example, the Smithsonian museums are closed. Are we to pretend that Christmas is nothing but an orgy of commerce in celebration of . . . what? The winter solstice? ” – Charles Krauthammer, “Just Leave Christmas Alone“

(Thanks, Dappled Things)

Politics From the Pulpit

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There are great discussions going on in the comments to these posts, both of which
touch on faith in public life. I encourage those who haven’t done already to hop
in. 🙂

Merry
Christmas, ACLU
Still
Hope

I’d like to thank all those who’ve been participating. I don’t usually get such
lively debate in my comments. I really think a blog without comments is only half
a blog, so I really appreciate the exchange of thoughts going on. That said, I now
encourage those who enjoy the chatter about the first post to head over to The
Smedley Log, where H2 has expanded his thoughts from the comments. He deserves
a traffic spike, too, so spread the love. 😉

Theomorph
also has a post related to this topic, though he was inspired by an essay by
David Brin, not this blog.