ZGram - 12/21/2001 - "Buchanan: The Abolution of Christmas"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

Copyright (c) 2001 - Ingrid A. Rimland

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

December 21, 2001

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

As you can see, I am still barely hanging on in cyberspace - every five
minutes or so, I experience a crash - but for as long as I can, here I am!
Christmas is almost here, and right after Christmas, I'll go hunt for a
computer specialist who knows how to handle this gadget with its quirks and
temper tantrums.

So let me try once more:

Even though my family, with the exception of my grandmother, was anything
but religious, I have nothing but fond and tender memories of Christmas,
and I resent it bitterly how commercialized and meaningless our Christmas
has become.  One of my private campaigns has to do with making Christmas
relevant to our values and our culture again.  Therefore, I could relate to
this Pat Buchanan article and want to share it with my readers, partly to
alert them to his new book, titled "Death of the West", due next month and
already available on the Internet.

[START]

The abolition of Christmas

By Patrick J. Buchanan

[START]

When I was a boy, Kensington was a village half an hour north of Chevy
Chase Circle where, inside an ice-cold armory, Catholic kids practiced
basketball. Montgomery County was a bedroom suburb of D.C. Nothing beyond
existed, except for the Rockville drive-in.


This fall, both precincts became world-famous as citadels of wacko
liberalism. The Montgomery County Council voted to fine homeowners $500 who
let cigarette smoke escape into neighbors' houses. And the Kensington
council voted to purge Santa from its 30-year-old tradition of lighting a
pine tree in front of town hall.


Why did the Kensington  Taliban expel St. Nick? Says the mayor: "Because
two families felt that they would be uncomfortable with Santa Claus being a
part of the event." Ebeneezer Scrooge felt the same way.


Now this may not be in the Christmas spirit, but it needs to be said - as
writer Tom Piatak says it so well in Chronicles. The spirit that seeks to
purge Santa, and has already purged Christ from Christmas, is not a spirit
of tolerance, but a spirit of "hatred, resentment and envy."


And why should a tiny few who resent Christmas prevail in America over the
great joyous majority who love it?


Multiculturalists say Christmas celebrations cause "non-Christians to feel
'left out.' I am skeptical, but even if the multiculturalists are right,"
says Piatak, "how much should we worry about those who feel left out. ...
We cannot forever shield non-Christians from the reality that they are a
minority in America, and suppressing the observances of the majority seems
a high price to pay to allow overly sensitive souls to live in comfortable
delusion."


Moreover, he adds, "Christmas in America was never marked by pogroms or
expressions of hatred, but by countless acts of charity and kindness. ...
The public celebration of Christmas was capable of being enjoyed by
non-Christians as well as Christians, and almost everyone did enjoy at
least some of it. I know of non-Christians who enjoy Christmas specials,
Christmas movies, Christmas music."


Under true tolerance, schoolchildren whose parents do not wish for them to
take part in Christmas carols, pageants or plays would be exempt, but all
non-Christians would be invited to join in.


But, as multiculturalists know, the result of free choice would be the
almost-universal celebration of Christmas in public. And this they cannot
abide, for their agenda is to purge from public life the Christian faith
that gave birth to Western civilization. For they believe Western
civilization was a blight upon mankind. As that great multiculturalist
Jesse Jackson put it, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Western Civ has got to go!"


"Europe is the faith, the faith is Europe," asserted the Catholic writer
Hillaire Belloc. Piatak echoes Belloc. Christmas "has been the principal
holiday of the world's most creative civilization for over a millennium. It
has inspired a profusion of art, architecture, literature and music; a love
of Christmas can lead to a deeper love of our whole civilization. Giotto
never painted a Kwanzaa scene, Bach did not write a Hannukah oratorio, and
Dickens did not pen 'A Ramadan Carol.' And no one comparable to them did,
either."


Indeed, the birth of Christ has inspired more great paintings, music and
sculpture than any event in history. "Ultimately," writes Piatak, "we
should be free to celebrate Christmas publicly and joyously, because it is
a great holiday, and because it is our holiday and one of the crowning
glories of Western culture that gave birth to America and sustains us
still."


But why, then, are we not free to do so? Why may we not celebrate, as we
did for 200 years, the birth of our Savior, the day God became man to open
up for us the gates of heaven and bring mankind the hope of eternal
salvation?


Answer: Because our Constitution has been hijacked by bigots in black
robes, who perverted it to de-Christianize America. And we let them get
away with it. Second, because Christians have become an intimidated lot,
who will permit themselves to be pushed around and even permit their Savior
to go uncelebrated for fear of being called insensitive. But if we do not
proclaim the Son of God, will He proclaim us before the Father in heaven?


If Jesus was truly God, and the first Christmas was the day he was born of
the Virgin Mary, and He came into the world for our salvation, what does it
say about us that we would permit a handful of unhappy people to deny us
the right to celebrate His birth in our pubic squares?


But, nevertheless, "God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing ye dismay" -
not even the ACLU on this coming Christmas Day.

[end]

 "The Death of the West", Buchanan's latest book, is an eye-opening expos=E9
of how immigration invasions are endangering America.  Both autographed and
unautographed copies are now available at WorldNetDaily's online store.

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

Patrick J. Buchanan was twice a candidate for the Republican presidential
nomination and the Reform Party=EDs candidate in 2000.  Now a commentator an=
d
columnist, he served three presidents in the White House, was a founding
panelist of three national televison shows, and is the author of six books.
His current position is chairman of The American Cause.  His newest book,
"Death of the West," will be published in January.

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

(Source:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=3D25788>http://www.=
worldn
etdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=3D25788)

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

Thought for the Day:

"LONDON (December 20) - The diplomatic career of French Ambassador to
Britain Daniel Bernard was said to be in jeopardy yesterday, after he was
quoted as having referred to Israel as "that shitty little country" which
threatens world peace."

(Source:  First paragraph in one of yesterday's Associated Press articles)