SEAN HANNITY SUCKS

Christmas

                                                    The War that Never Was

Each year, as Thanksgiving passes and we set out sights on Holiday, Christmas or Shopping season, depending on your term, we are all touched, some more than others, by the media driven “War on Christmas”.

The most common phrase I hear on television is “What’s the big deal”?  However, that sentence is always uttered by those in the majority.  I feel the same way, what is the big deal?  We have achieved what our Founding Fathers set out to do.  We have a diversity in ethnicity, religion, culture and global views that Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, etc. could only have imagined.  Many people that I speak with on this subject, quite frankly know little of the Founding Fathers other than the term and what they remember from school.  A careful, objective study of the right books, people and philosophies of these men gives a great sense of what they were trying to achieve.  “Quote mining” is a frequent, irrelevant tool for the misinformed or lazy.

This is something we should be celebrating, not creating a fictitious war over, which from what I can tell, is mostly “promoted”, for lack a reason other than ratings, by primarily the  Fox Television Network, .   The double edge to “Freedom of Religion” is that it happens to infringe on what are perceived as the rights of the majority, that all along should have been respected, but respected as beliefs and not rights.  Beliefs and rights are very different things, and in the area of religion in the United States have become intertwined and often confused with tradition. 

When I see the controversies over having displays, the displays are usually Christian, that not being an attack on Christianity, simply an observation that as a population we are mostly Christian.  We do not, as I sometimes hear, live by the “majority rule” concept.  If we were to do that, imagine what this country would be like.  The African Americans had to fight for their rights to be treated as human beings, and that fight continues today, the same goes for Homosexuals, Hispanics, Muslims, women in many respects, just for their own reproductive systems, atheists are one of the most despised minorities in the country yet, by number there are more atheists in Unites States alone than Jews world wide.  The numbers and cases could go on forever.  The Bill of Rights was created to protect the minority, not the majority.

Why do we have to place religious symbols, scenes and designs representing any one religion in the one or two public places, community centers, government buildings, etc. where we know that it will cause a problem?  With all the Churches, and congregants who belong to those churches, many of whom would be honored to have these displays on their property, why do the taxpayers, of all beliefs and non-beliefs have to support what they may or may not believe in?

            The United States has a population of Christians, Muslims, Scientologists, Jews, atheists, agnostics, Wiccan’s, Mormons, Unitarians, etc. all of which are tax exempt, except atheists and agonists, and many more. I believe there are approximately 53 tax exempt Religious Institutions in the United States.  Not every respects, or even acknowledges all of those ways of thinking, and that is their right, but it is also a divisive way of thinking as it infringes on peoples rights and unfortunately, works it’s way into our political system, schools and society and all too often, hurts people.

            Is it tradition that drives this “hate” in the people that get so worked up because they can’t have their nativity scene at the public square?  Maybe.  However, maybe you should take a step back and realized how much we have evolved as a nation and we need to be more sensitive to everyone’s beliefs.  If groups insist on this type of childishness, than other groups, legally, will be able to have their groups represented.  This is where I hear how “other groups” are trying to “ruin” Christmas, yet the truth is, it was the original group that refused to be sensitive.  Yes, everyone could have just let it be, but that’s not how it’s been done in this country.  We are a people that take a stand for what we believe.  It’s good if people agree with you, you’re a trouble maker if not.

Everyone should be able to enjoy this season, for whatever it means to them.  A number of the people on Fox openly promote Christianity, as is their right.  They are not a public organization and their beliefs do not carry over to our public arena.

No amount of their hyperbolic rhetoric, which is dissected daily on websites and shows all over the country, should change the true spirit of the diverse citizens and patriots of this country, as they do speak for the vast majority of us, and they are frequently factually and legally inaccurate in what they report on this subject.   There is a difference between opinion and fact, at least in the real world.

We separate our government and church in the United States for a reason.  The Americans United for Separation of Church and State are not anti-religious, as people sometimes try to claim, simply because we may be fighting something against something they believe in, or support, this time.  We end up supporting religion far more than we do opposing it.  Often, however, we were brought in, by someone, or a group because of a complaint against the majority group, because once again, they are the ones insisting that their beliefs be accepted, as rights, quietly.

Though there is a misconception about the “bigotry” that takes place this time of year, the truth is, the majority is seeing a number of others that have always been the victims of bigotry fight back to take their rightful place along side them. 

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”

These are the very first words in the 1^st Amendment to the Constitution for a reason.  That’s how important it became.  People who show the true spirit of The United States really understand these words, along with tolerance and those, in my opinion, are the true patriots, not people on television that stir up hate everyday.