Here We Go Again - It's That Time of the Year....
Forcing religion on consumers is anti-Christmas | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:
nly America's Religious Right is able to find controversy where it does not exist. There is nothing more anti-Christmas than forcing American businesses and employees to say Merry Christmas. And only in consumerism-run-amok America is it important to force retail workers who make minimum wage to wish every shopper, ``Merry Christmas.''
Humbug to those phony Christians who think Christmas is all about minimum-wage employees uttering vapid niceties to gluttonous shoppers in mega-store foyers and checkout lanes!
If the Religious Righteous want to demonstrate their commitment to the Christmas spirit, let them start by boycotting the big-box retailers who refuse to pay their workers a living wage and family-sustainable benefits. The Religious Right, in its zeal to make every American conform to a specified form of speech during Christmas, is not much different than the Roman Empire requiring its citizens to say "Hail Caesar!" or the Third Reich requiring Germans to greet one another by uttering "Heil Hitler!"
Grinch-like conservatives take the meaning and spirit of "merry" and "Christmas" out of "Merry Christmas" by making its use mandatory and branding those who refuse to conform as "anti-American" and "anti-Christian."
But hang a wreath on your home in the shape of a peace symbol as one woman recently did in Loma Linda, Colo., and the Christmas zeal soon disappears among the Religious Right. The resident was threatened with a huge fine by her homeowners association for displaying what they considered to be an "anti-American" and "Satanic" wreath. After the case was reported around the world, the crusaders for Christian subdivision covenants backed down.
Much of the phony debate about the phony "War on Christmas" is led by broadcasting right-wing inciters such as Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Last year, the Catholic League, the heirs of Father Charles Coughlin, the suburban Detroit radio-ranter in the 1930s, threatened boycotts of Target, Wal-Mart, Macy's and other stores unless they put up "Merry Christmas" banners.
America's home-grown Fascists now have commandeered the term, calling their enemies "Islamo-fascists" and "cultural fascists."