Butterfly Blues

ATHEISTS PROTEST 'GIVING TREE'

REUTERS: U.S. Christians fight against secular Christmas

"Christian Conservatives Say It's 'Christmas' Time"

Christmas or Kwanzaa, Diwali, Ramadan, Chanukah or the Winter Solstice

Parade Organizers Say Christmas Carols May Be Offensive To Others

Ban on Christmas leads to court fight

School bans saying 'Christmas'

Christmas book banned from class

Parents sue district after teacher censors 2nd-grader's story

Christmas is THE NEW “C-WORD”

Public Schools and the ACLU Play Scrooge This Christmas

Christmas Trees are Banned from Public Buildings in Pasco County

Religious exhibit ruled illegal, removed from park's entrance
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The above headlines are just a sampling of the deleterious impact that 'political correctness' is having on the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ. The television, radio, and internet are constant reminders of the insidious assault of liberal, postmodern secularists on not just Christianity but American tradition. This hegemony by the minority (most Americans are Christian and even a majority of those non-Christians are OK with the tradition of publically celebrating Christmas) is condoned by a certain political party and explains why said party lost in the last election and why they will continue to shrivel on the vine.

A year ago at this time I was still in a seminary studying for the priesthood. I was cocooned in an environment where I was uninformed about the ideological and cultural clashes out in the world. In other words, I don't recall hearing much about the PC attempts to strain or eliminate all hints of 'Christmas' from the public square (ACLU), nor the possibly subconcious impulse of the culture in general (see the plethora of sanitized and secularized 'greeting cards' on the market). Is this a suddenly new phenomenon (the actions described in the headlines above) or is the media pushing these headlines more than ever before, for lack of hard news?

Back in the seminary I made the point once that the seminary environment was not the real world. I got some flack from a member of the staff, one of the many Benedictine monks from the monestary there, because he disagreed with my assessment. I asked some of my fellow seminarians if they considered the seminary as experiencing the real world, and of course they felt as I did. My point is, I was spoiled (not the best description) by the sacredness, serenity, solitude, and opportunity for serious study, while living on the grounds of a monestary as a seminarian.

I'm no longer a seminarian...I'm living out in the real world. Must I assimilate?

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