Divided we fall for Fallwell

It’s that time of year. There’s no frost on the pumpkin down here, but you can tell by the battle cry of the Christian Supremacists that the annual battle is beginning.  

Strident shouters of shaky certainties are writing in to editors, calling in to talk shows and agitating for the installation of more and higher wattage displays of their graven images on public property.  The same arguments, canned and packaged by the Crusaders for Christian domination and distributed from pulpits, Sunday schools and religious media outlets everywhere; from newsletters and magazines the word goes forth: we are the majority and we are being persecuted and deprived of our rights by a minority (read Jews, atheists and secular humanists.)

I’ve already gone into enough detail about the antipathy the drafters of our Constitution had toward religious influence on Government and the intent of our constitution to separate Religious and clerical power from political power.  It’s an idea under attack as are most of the precepts of our Republic that have at least allowed it to survive and sometimes approach its lofty ideals.

Jerry Foulsmell wants you to think Christmas is under attack because he gains power and money by doing so. His adherents want to believe that it’s under attack because they have so little in their lives that they find their modicum of pride in being part of what they see as a majority group and sometimes a majority race that is somehow special.  From my experience, Christian supremacists, now often called Christianists to distinguish them from Christians, know next to nothing of religious history, theology, their scriptures or the history of their scriptures and practices.  They don’t seem to care, because the purpose of Christmas, judging by what I read in the papers and hear on the street is to declare themselves to be a master race and not to celebrate any beliefs about Jesus’ life or teachings.  Christmas in the Bible Belt has become a celebration of “America, be a Christian or leave.”

Nobody knows where or exactly when Jesus was born, the hint that it was in April is likely there to identify him with a lamb and the Passover.  The place, in  Bethlehem used to identify him with a mistranslated bit of Micah.  The wise men and the crèche are too similar to what we see in Mithraism, a dominant Roman religion.  In fact, the events supposedly surrounding his birth don’t hang together historically and were likely written centuries afterward.

None of this demeans Christmas in my opinion. It was a good holiday when it was the birthday of Mithras or the holiday of deus Sol Invictus and before it, just the Roman celebration of the equinox and remained so when it became a Christian celebration of peace, benevolence and generosity.  

Would Jesus have approved of displays of religious figures on government property?  Not if he had any feeling for the second Commandment. Would he tell anyone to follow the words of the priests to the letter or get out of the country? I don’t think so.  The Christian Right has poisoned Christianity, and is attempting to poison our Constitution as well.