Christmas or XMAS – You Decide

In 1870, President Grant signed a law making Christmas Day a federal holiday, a national day of celebration. Congress overwhelmingly voted to make that happen, and Grant understood that this was not a trivial gesture. The nation remained deeply divided in the aftermath of the Civil War, and the federal government was looking for ways to reunite the people. Since Christmas was loved by almost everyone, the national holiday became a symbol of healing and unity.
Now America is divided again, this time over social behavior. Traditional Americans want to hold on to the beliefs and institutions that, they believe, have made this country great; while secular-progressives lobby for aggressive change — things like redefining marriage to include homosexuals and other redefinitions of tradition.
Thus, deep divisions are growing in the United States, and somewhat shockingly, Christmas is right in the middle of it.
A few years ago some retail companies ordered their employees not to say the words “Merry Christmas” because they might offend people who do not celebrate the national holiday. That was insane. These companies were marketing the gift-giving season that accompanies Christmas, but refusing to utter the word. Please.
Once I and some other media people exposed this, millions of Americans decided not to spend money in the offending quarters and the banishment of Christmas quickly ceased. I guess making money trumps offending people all day long.
This year there is another Christmas controversy, this one engineered by some atheists who want to display signs on public property where Christmas or Hanukkah symbols are present. So far, only Illinois, Wisconsin and Washington State have caved in to the atheists, but it is just a matter of time before the nonbelievers come to a State House near you.
The problem with the atheistic displays in Washington and Wisconsin is that the message is hateful, an attack on religion rather than a positive message. In Madison, then-Gov. Tommy Thompson allowed an anti-religion sign, but posted it far away from the Nativity scene and the menorah.
But in Olympia, Gov. Christine Gregoire, a secular-progressive politician, has allowed a sign in the Capitol rotunda that says religion enslaves people — among other not nice things — to be placed within a few feet of Jesus in the manger. And peace on earth to you, too, Governor. Continued…
http://townhall.com/columnists/BillOReilly/2008/12/20/why_christmas_matters?page=2

The uber right wing of the GOP is doomed…what one doesnt know is to what level of reality the leaders of the rest of the “band” are working to. Bill O is an entertainer (like most of the gang at fox) and as such has to keep stroking the red meat…
What the next year (2009) will play out is where the rest of the “base” of the GOP is…
I think that McCain made some serious errors…including bringing into his campaign the Rove addicts like Steve Schmidt who tried to run Bush 04 as McCain 08…McCain never really felt happy with that…and thats why he got beat.
The next year (09) is going to be pivotal. Obama will get almost anything he wants (Much as Bush did in 02) …and we will see if he is as adept in his governance as he was in the campaign and transition.
If he is…well then a realignment is going to take place…
but the ultra right wing is in their Rush bunker dittoing and growing old…
its fun to watch.

Subject: Without Hate, There is No Atheism
Not just satisfied to say “no thanks” to an evangelist, or to simply declare that they don’t believe and move on, Atheists have dedicated themselves to spread their nothingness around by insulting believers.
In fact, their only arguments are insults, and the only action they want is suppression of religious speech in the public square. They are quite obsessed with it, and many are very loud and obnoxious, like the founder of American Atheists, Madeline Murray O’Hair, who dedicated her life to getting all visable trace of Christianity out of view.
Over the years, there have been none as obnoxious as O’Hair, but many who repeat her rude and persecutory statements against the Church.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_EmVkmpYgw
Murray O’Hair was so obnoxious that her own office manager murdered her in the mid-1990s, but in spite of this, her vile message continues to make progress.
Thus, Christians and conservatives should take note that it is not effective for us to sit back and laugh at the antics of radicals, because their persistence and passion allow them to grab the upper hand.

Putting to use the then-popular method of allegorical theology, some reasoned that Christ must have born on the same day the sun was created. Polycarp (d. 155 AD), for example, suggested that Christ was born on a Wednesday, since the sun was created on the fourth day in Genesis.
So when was Jesus actually born? Modern scholarship estimates the year of his birth from 7 to 4 BC. Although the Gospel narratives offer no indication as to the date, they do seem to indicate it was not in the winter. Luke describes the shepherds “keeping watch over their flocks by night” {5} and this was not done in the coldest winter months.
But as early as 273 AD, Western Christians had decided on December 25 to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The December date for the holiday probably arose from a desire to provide an alternative to the Roman “birthday of the unconquered sun” and the Persian birthday of Mithras..