This is the family Christmas card of Nevada Assemblywoman, Republican Michele Fiore. This reminds me of nothing so much as this which I came across in my recent research into the Anti-Christianity of the Nazis, their program of replacing Christianity with "Positive Christianity" in which Jesus was an Aryan and to pretty much bury anything about doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, what you do for the least among you you do unto me, the good Samaritan (the stranger among you, etc.) and, last but not least in their intention of NOT following the teachings of Jesus, turning the other cheek.
And other, such expressions of Anti-Christianity which seems, inevitably, to replace guns and the worship of violence for the Gospel of Jesus.
It is one of the worst things that real Christians do that they don't call this what it is, the Anti-Christianity that is so often on the tongues of those who worship that very Anti-Christ.
I cannot agree with you more about a "Christmas Card" like this. It made me momentarily sick to see it.
ReplyDeleteAnd though I agree with you that the card is much closer in spirit to fascism than to anything remotely to do with the gospels, I recognize that we have a problem with talking about "Christianity." Don't get me wrong when I talk about the consequences of religious freedom. I think it's a great good that needs defending. But two or three centuries of religious freedom has left us with the lazy habit of accepting that Christianity is whatever someone thinks it is. This segues in with a lazy postmodernism, which decides that, since interpretation is inevitable, any text means anything I want it to mean. and the bible becomes a pliable supporter of whatever use I want to put it to.
You and I probably wouldn't agree exactly on what "true Christianity" is. But I think we'd both recognize that it's something we seek to live by, not something we create to rationalize getting what we want. And I think we'd both heartily agree that true Christianity is not the glorification and domestication of the obscene disregard for human life that seems to grow around us every day.
We've pretty much lost "Christmas" to the secular world. Which is fine with me; notably, there's nothing remotely Christian in that card, aside from the reference (archaic, now, and stripped of all such meaning for most people) to the "Christ Mass."
ReplyDeleteIf that connection to this card was any more explicit, this card would truly be an obscenity, not to mention a blasphemy. At least by my lights. Would the UCC, the ELCA, the PCUSA, even Rome, agree? Who knows?
That said, this is as bad an example of Christmas as one could ask, since even in secular Christmas the themes of peace on earth and goodwill toward all people still push through (well, as long as you aren't shopping on Black Friday). So it's still a disgusting holiday message (come to think of it, what holiday is about being armed to the teeth and brandishing guns?)