Christmas Smackdown: Jesus vs. Atheists in Olympia

CygnusX1 · Post by **CygnusX1** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:29 am

Jesus Versus the Atheists

by Bill O'Reilly

Just in time for the Christmas season, Washington State Gov. Christine
Gregoire has insulted Christians all over the world.

Inside the state Capitol building in Olympia there is a traditional holiday
display featuring a tree and the Nativity scene; perfectly appropriate
since the federal and state Christmas holiday celebrates the birth of
Jesus in Bethlehem.

But this year Gregoire decided to add another item to the display.

Standing alongside the baby Jesus is a giant placard designed by atheists
that reads:

"There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell."

"There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that
hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

You read that correctly. The governor of Washington State has
permitted an attack on religion to be displayed in her office building as
part of a Christmas presentation.

Even the producers of "The Twilight Zone" would have rejected this script
as being too far-fetched. Gregoire's behavior is offensive, insulting to all
people of faith and totally incomprehensible.

Unless you know what's going on in Washington State.

Seattle now rivals San Francisco for secular-progressive nuttiness.

The city fathers are allowing public nakedness in city parks and nude bike
riding, and in Fremont, a Seattle suburb, they actually put up a statue
honoring Vladimir Lenin, the father of communism.

Some on the Seattle school board actually supported denigrating
Thanksgiving by teaching children about the atrocities against Native
Americans by the Pilgrims.

In addition, Washington State voters have passed assisted-suicide
legislation, and the state gives out free birth control pills, including
the "morning after pill."

On the quality-of-life front, the streets of Seattle are full of homeless
people, but they don't have to be out in the rain. The city will pay to
house alcoholics and drug addicts if they want it. They can actually get
free furnished apartments.

Taxpayers, of course, pick up the tab.

Outside of the Seattle area, Washington State is fairly conservative. But
the big-city population base rules, and far-left zealots are running wild.
However, they may have overstepped on this Christmas deal.

I believe that most Americans, even those living in the far-left enclaves,
respect uplifting traditions like Christmas, where peace and love is the
theme of the great day.

Calling religion "enslaving" doesn't exactly fit into the peace and love
scenario, does it? Can't we all just get along for a few weeks in
December?

The answer to that question is no.

Not in Washington State, where the governor believes a few nuts have a
legal right to run down the Christmas tradition in the lobby of the Capitol
building.

At this point there is little left to say except this:

Where are the wise men when you need them?

Siggy's take: I'm with Bill O'Reilly, and dare the Governor of
Washington to post the Atheist display next to Dr. Martin Luther King on
HIS Federal holiday. MLK also happened to be a religious man who
served God.

This whole thing is an attack on Christians, plain and simple...

However, the "author" of the display didn't take Muslims, Jews and other
religions into consideration. And yes, he offended THEM too.

Think they'll attack MLK with the atheist display too? I'm betting no, but we'll see.

It's open season on Christmas again. One day, the faithful will scream in
a voice that cannot be ignored, and I think it's right around the corner.

Walkinghairball · Post by **Walkinghairball** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:43 am

Ok, I'm not siding with Gregwhore cuz I do not like her, but at first there was no nativity scene there.............(the whole separate church and state thinger) Then one year it showed up.

Now there is a thing, this athiest thing, and since the other has been allowed, so has this.

I'm not big with religion so I really don't care either way, but in my mind if they wanna be true to the church and state thing BOTH need to go to be fair.

I think there is a Minorah (sp?) there also.

Besides, the athiests do have a day...............April 1st.

My wooden nickle.

CygnusX1 · Post by **CygnusX1** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:05 am

Walkinghairball wrote:Ok, I'm not siding with Gregwhore cuz I do not like her, but at first there was no nativity scene there.............(the whole separate church and state thinger) Then one year it showed up.

Now there is a thing, this athiest thing, and since the other has been allowed, so has this.

I'm not big with religion so I really don't care either way, but in my mind if they wanna be true to the church and state thing BOTH need to go to be fair.

I think there is a Minorah (sp?) there also.

Besides, the athiests do have a day...............April 1st.

My wooden nickle.

You got THAT right (about April 1st).

I know what you're saying Bro. I can respect that, but my point is that
the display is OFFENSIVE...none of the other displays are, and they
probably had to get permits to post them there to begin with, right?

There are more tactful ways of expressing ones' opinion without
butchering the others. He didn't have to slam religion to get
his point across.

It was just convenient to do so, so he went for it.

I'll bet an insulted Muslim extremist stole it.

Wouldn't THAT be a bitch.

Walkinghairball · Post by **Walkinghairball** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:09 am

Offensive to Christians....................yes. To Jews, most likely, to Athiests.............hell no, it's their gospel.

And fair is fair.

Just like a hetro couple kissing is no big whoop to hetero's...........but if a gay couple does it the hetero's freak out.

Again, it's not my way, but "Equal pay for mules" right???

Big Blue Owl · Post by **Big Blue Owl** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:17 am

This, as disturbing as it is for some, is a shining example of the gloriousness of our freedoms in the U.S. We are not all the same in the thinking and theology department, but we can all be represented without the risk of jail or public persecution (in theory, anyway. Unfortunately, O'Reilly's article is a testament to how it is not always practiced.)

Satanists are people too. I wonder how the tight-assed fake religious pundits would react to them exercising their right to free speech at this time of year.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm

"...evangelicals remain just 7% of the adult population. That number has not changed since the Barna Group began measuring the size of the evangelical public in 1994....less than one out of five born again adults (18%) meet the evangelical criteria." (N = 1003; margin of error = ?3.2%). 13
"...the number of Protestants soon will slip below 50 percent of the nation's population." National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey, 2004.

The shift away from Christianity and other organized religions:

The United States appears to be going through an unprecedented change in religious practices. Large numbers of American adults are disaffiliating themselves from Christianity and from other organized religions. Since World War II, this process had been observed in other countries, like the U.K., other European countries, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. But, until recently, affiliation with Christianity had been at a high level -- about 87% -- and stable in the U.S.

Polling data from the 2001 ARIS study, described below, indicate that:
81% of American adults identify themselves with a specific religion:
76.5% (159 million) of Americans identify themselves as Christian. This is a major slide from 86.2% in 1990. Identification with Christianity has suffered a loss of 9.7 percentage points in 11 years -- about 0.9 percentage points per year. This decline is identical to that observed in Canada between 1981 and 2001. If this trend has continued, then:
at the present time (2007-MAY), only 71% of American adults consider themselves Christians
The percentage will dip below 70% in 2008
By about the year 2042, non-Christians will outnumber the Christians in the U.S.

So it's kinda like Hairy said. If they are lucky enough to place a religious display on gov. property, everyone should be able to chime in, as we are everybody, not just a fewbody.

CygnusX1 · Post by **CygnusX1** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:36 am

I don't have a problem with an atheist display as long as it doesn't
ATTACK anyone. He didn't have to attack Christians to convey the
message, and it is what it is - an attack on Christians.

My point is....The governor has the responsibility to disapprove anything
offensive.

Still, let's see if the guy plays fair and puts it up next to Dr. King on his
holiday.

Religious is religious....right?

Big Blue Owl · Post by **Big Blue Owl** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:58 am

I respect and honor everyone's right to believe what they want to, so I would never place a sign like the one posted near the Christmas display.

"There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell."
"There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that
hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

These are beliefs, though, held by people who are just as human and good as anyone who holds religious beliefs to be true. Until proven one way or the other there is no right or wrong way of thinking on this subject (yet) and we can only hope that people are "P.C." when referring and dealing with differences. Wait...P.C. That's a dirty term in Conservativeland. Hm. Ironic, eh?

CygnusX1 · Post by **CygnusX1** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:05 am

Big Blue Owl wrote:P.C. That's a dirty term in Conservativeland. Hm. Ironic, eh?

yes, yes it are.

Walkinghairball · Post by **Walkinghairball** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:22 am

PC is a computer in my world. Other than that, I don't like the term.

I'm fat not, weight challenged so there.

zepboy · Post by **zepboy** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:35 am

All I can say is that I am very thankful God chose to take the place of a child in Jesus Christ to save the world from sin.

During this Christmas season I am choosing not to say that whomever doesn't recognize this day will burn in hell.

It is a matter of an individual's discretion. Can I have my faith without being hurtful and mean toward others? Of course I can, and so can everyone else, if they so choose.

It is obvious we have one here in the State of Washington who has chosen to be offensive. If I knew who this is, I would lovingly shun that behavior, and the person if need be. I have made my thoughts known to all my reps in Olympia.

If each person would behave in a manner that held others in regard, we would achieve as much peace as can be found in this fallen world.

May all of you have peace in your lives, no matter what your beliefs.

awip2062 · Post by **awip2062** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:39 am

My thing, as I stated the other place we talked about this is that the other displays are celebrations and the atheist display is not. There's a place for disclaimers. Let him put up a display that celebrates what he believes without mention of the beliefs of others. That's what the tree and nativity and menorah are.

zepboy · Post by **zepboy** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:22 pm

^^^^^^
What t said.

awip2062 · Post by **awip2062** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:35 pm

Just read a letter in the paper that I totally agreed with. A man, who is not of any one religion said he thought that if the display had simply stopped at the first sentence, it would have been fine (i.e. "At this season of winter solstice, may reason prevail."), or if it had said, "may reason and peace prevail."

He then went on to say. "However, to prominently post a sign in our state capitol that degrades and demeans the views of millions of Washingtonians constitutes a blatant abuse of freedom of speech."

Big Blue Owl · Post by **Big Blue Owl** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:28 pm

As I said before, I agree that the sign was probably wrong for correctness' sake, but consider how offensive it is to hear things like, "If you don't believe in God you will burn in an eternal lake of fire" and other such "scorching" statements. That's what is reality according to those of us who believe the Bible is a true historical account and that this is the word of God and The Ultimate Law to those who have been saved.
I, your friendly friend, li'l old BBO, will burn and be tortured in most cruel manners for eternity if I don't go through the rituals to cleanse myself of my former "heathen" existence! That's not only upsetting if you think about it. It is offensive to think that, even though I work very long and hard, am nice to most people I meet and kind to just about everyone, even those that would welcome my burning, I am less a human, a demon, a condemned wreck to the Saved.

Dag, now I'm kinda scared.

That's a long time, eternity.

Walkinghairball · Post by **Walkinghairball** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:55 pm

It's like forever even.

Honest folks, I don't agree with the sign and I think it was placed to make a point, but the point is...........none of it should be there if there is to be the separation of Church and State like it was meant to be.

And does anyone have change for my wooden nickle???