More Anti-Grinch Warriors

For those of you who wonder why I am calling those people trying to take Christ & Christmas out of Christmas Grinches, the reason is simple. A couple of weeks ago when watching Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R.'s program Sunday Night Live on EWTN he was talking about the Grinches & their attacks on Christmas. He announced a joint project between The Catholic League & his Franciscan Friars of the Renewal entitled the 2006 Christmas Watch.

Why did they do this? As it says on their website: "Every December sees its fair share of "Grinches," those retailers, schools, websites, towns and municipalities who refuse to acknowledge Christmas as part of the "holiday season." These Christmas kill-joys are all around.

This Christmas, the Catholic League, Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. and the other Franciscan Friars of the Renewal have joined up to put the spotlight on these folks. Should you notice one of these Grinches, please let us know. You may submit the details either by faxing the Catholic League at 212-371-3394, writing to us at 450 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10123 or by e-mailing mailto:Christmas@catholicleague.org."

They have divided the Grinches into several categories: Activists, Education, Equal Opportunity Offenders, Government Bodies , Private Groups/Companies, Vandalism/Theft , & Supreme Grinch of the Week. All the nominees submitted are posted on the Christmas watch website. The Supreme Grinch is determined to be the worst offender culled from the nominees of the prevoius week & is announced every Friday.

So, if you have a Grinch that you wish to nominate you can contact The Catholic League in any of the above mentioned ways.

There are 2 other things that The Catholic League is doing to battle the Grinches. The 1st is an ad campaign. They published an ad in the NY Times on 28 Nov 2006, "Celebrate Diversity: Celebrate Christmas.". The ad points out the fact that 85% of Americans are Christian & polls show that 97% of Americans are not offended by Christmas celebrations. It goes on to point out the hypocricy of saying that Christmas is exclusive when these same people aren't upset by holidays like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Veteran's Day, events like Gay pride parades & Black History Month that exclude some people. Yet the "multicultural gurus" don't get upset about that. This ad is a call to stand up to "cultural fascists".

The 2nd thing is another contest, Why I Hate Christmas. This contest has been launched by Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, and Don Feder, president of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation. They did so after a Zogby Poll released on 6 December 2006 that said 95% of Americans are not offended by being greeted with a "Merry Christmas" while shopping. They "would like to know more about the 5 percent who object" to Merry Christmas. Given the questions that they ask to be answered, I think this is more tongue-in-cheek than serious. But it does make a good point. (You might want to read Don Feder's The Jewish Case For "Merry Christmas", a commentary that he wrote for GrassTopsUSA to get a better understanding of where he is coming from.)

Also, if you haven't read FoxNews' John Gibson's book War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought, I would highly recommend you do. It is out in both hard cover & paperback & should be available at most libraries. If not request that they get a copy even if you have to donate it yourself.

As I come upon more Anti-Grinch warriors I will try & post the info ASAP. If each of us does our part then Christian's 1st Amendment rights to "free exercise" of religion & "freedom of speech" will be protected.