What kind of things offend you? As some of you know, it is very hard to offend a redneck. We rednecks have a level of self confidence that shields us from most insults.
But there are a couple of things that really get our dander up. One of them is people who go around looking for things to be offended about. I am almost equally offended by those who bow down to the blackmailers who threaten to call people bad names if they dare disagree with them.
Take the example of so-called atheists. They run around threatening to file lawsuits against any public or private business or office that dares to display Christmas decorations because the handful of non believers in America might be offended. And far too many government offices, schools and even private companies cave in to their demands and remove anything suggestive of Christmas from their displays. Christmas trees have to become “holiday trees.” Singing of Christmas carols are forbidden. Some of them even refuse to allow Santa Claus or candy canes.
The question is, who is offended most, those who oppose Christmas, or those who support the holiday? I talk to a lot of people. I can tell you that far more people are offended when Christmas is taken down, than those who are offended when it is put up.
Why do you suppose all these complainers are offended by Christmas? I mean the real reason. I think it is a power play. They know that their anti-religious stance will always be a minority position. The vast majority of Americans reject their non-belief. That leaves them with a justifiable feeling of inadequacy. They just cannot convince many people to adopt their position. So, rather than try to win points through discussion and debate, they decide to force the issue. They have no respect for the opinions of the majority. In their arrogant minds, they have the right, or even the responsibility to force their opinions on the nation by whatever tactic they can come up with.
They don’t care about the Constitution. They twist and distort it as a way of forcing their opinion. They do not care about the opinion of the majority. Since they are so superior to the rest of us, anyone who agrees with the majority is weak and deserves to be punished.
Now back to my original question. Who would you rather offend, the arrogant elitist minority, or the massive majority of believers who want to celebrate the birth of Christ? For clearly, you have to offend one or the other. You choose.
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frank@frankgillispie.com. His website can be accessed at http://www.frankgillispie.com/gillispieonlin
I fall back on the old "live and let live" concept and the "your rights end where someone else's begins" concept.
Basically, try to live by the "golden rule": Treat other people with the same respect and curtesy that you would want people to give to you. (So if you are a rude, obnoxious jerk, you should expect other people to be at least as rude and obnoxious to you as you are to others. Don't think that you can be ugly to everyone and that they should still be nice to YOU.)
As long as someone else does "their own thing" and leaves everyone else alone to do "their own thing", I don't have a problem with them doing "what-ever" (as long as it isn't illegal or harmful).
But when you start getting into MY business or making a public nuisance of yourself, you've crossed the line.
If someone doesn't want to see or hear about Christmas, they can stay at home and watch the dust settle around them. If they don't like that, it's their problem. (If they have a problem with THAT, then I fall back to my favorite concept: they can "kiss off".)
In other words, if YOU have a problem with Christmas, keep it YOUR problem, don't go out trying to ruin everyone else's enjoyment or one day (if you have enough intelligence) you might realize that you've ruined opportunities for yourself in the process.
So MERRY CHRISTMAS.
Ho Ho HO!
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Bill; where is the part about Separation of Church and State?? I believe it only states that the Government cannot make any laws respecting an established religion, meaning that the US cannot say that there is an Official US Religion. Having a cross on the wall doesn’t “Force” people to pray or believe, however the 1st Amendment DOES say that the government cannot prohibit the free exercise of me practicing my religion. These men were referring to the Anglican Church/Roman Catholic Church because of the wars between Protestants and Catholics. Read some now history about how the PURGES occurred to Protestant and Catholic depending on what the current King/Queen believed in.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
I cannot find "Separation of Church and State" in the U.S. Constitution. Did I miss something?
Finally, are not the constraints articulated in the Constitution addressed towards Government?
Opinion: War Against Hannukah is Arrogant, Disrespectful
Opinion: War Against Ramadan is Arrogant, Disrespectful
Opinion: War Against Pagans is Arrogant, Disrespectful
Hey, Frank. Substitute the words Kwanza, Hannukah, or Ramadan for the word Christmas in your editorial, and substitute the word Christian where you use atheist. Do you still feel the same way after reading that? Are you going to fully support the singing of Muslim or Wiccan songs in the school auditorium? Or don't you care about the Constitution?
For the record, I don't want a state employee indoctrinating my child religiously unless that state employee is a member of my religion and doing so in an alternate setting. I appreciate the Constitution keeping devil worshippers who hold a teaching certificate from blatantly spouting their corruption.
@#$%%^& Most of the reports I've read indicate that it is practicing (or upset) Jews who file these lawsuits (e.g. look at the report from last year regarding the Seattle airport and displaying Xmas decoractions).
Are you comfortable, mr. redneck, with replacing atheists with Jews? Or are atheists just an easy target for you?
Btw, the separation of church and state is a concept intitated by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 - it regards the combined effect of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the 1st Amendment and has been cited by the SCOTUS many times.
this year I say happy holidays because I realize there are tons of beliefs out there. By the way, there was an opinion printed a couple of weeks ago that basically said the same thing as this one except he asked readers to boycott any store that said Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. That seems very selfish and ignorant to me. But, if that's the way you want to be, shop where you want to but you won't have many places to go.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/42543/the_war_against_christmas