ACLU Christmas Card Email

I was forwarded an email message stating that it would be a great prank to send Christmas cards to the ACLU (you can read the bulk of the message online). It seems that the "Christians" are pissed about the godless atheists down at the ACLU are making an attempt to "systematically expunge the terms, definitions, and in many cases the symbols of the holiday from municipalities to school districts."

Uh, yeah, that is what is known as separation of church and state and is the bedrock of our secular society and in the American Constitution. This is what the Founding Fathers wanted. In fact, it was Thomas Jefferson who coined the term when he wrote:

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American < people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

But these Christians change their motives for sending holiday cards to the ACLU to gratitude, for it seems that the ACLU seems to be the only political group fighting for religious expression in this country. That's right, they are really on your side.

Step back and think for a moment about why Jefferson and the other boys wanted such a separation between "church and state". Before that time, Each European country had their own state-sponsored religion. If you didn't follow "those laws" you could either leave or burn. It was especially problematic when the king changed religions, for his subjects had to follow suit… regardless of personal convictions.

Our beloved Pilgrims fled the religious intolerance of Europe and came to a better land… only to immediately start their own version of intolerance and burnings.

I know, it is only a nativity scene that you want to display down at the court house to be a reminder of what Christians stand for. Innocuous? Perhaps, but it appears that the current Christian leader of American is a torturist, and it has been the ACLU that is rooting out such immoral behavior. But let's pretend that war and torture isn't really what Christians stand for.

First, there are the practical concerns of taxing the local population to pay for the decoration and the electricity and whatnot. Second, there are the many subtle messages that are given… for instance, is the Jesus black or white? He probably won't be the brown color that the original Jesus sported. Oh yeah, there is the 3rd Wise Man… the token Black Man.

Christians are famous for their fighting over tiny infractions of their favorite doctrines. Sprinklin' baptisms vs. Immersion, anyone? Don't think that putting religious icons bring out the best in people, for it is those things that can't be proved that people expel the most hot air and fists.

There is also the message of intolerance shone by religious artifacts in public places. Will an Atheist or a Muslim get a fair trial at the courthouse sporting the "Ten Commandments"?

But the biggest problem with introducing religious icons on our government and public school grounds is the slippery slope factor. It starts with a few religious displays and little-by-little, step-by-step, it turns into a state-sponsored religion where the government forbids your personal version of Christianity.

In a democratic society, the majority dictates the rules, however, in our society, we want the minority to have rights and not be trampled on by the whims of the majority. This is why we have the ACLU. This is important to all of us since each of us may find that we are in the minority in some subject.

So go ahead and send the ACLU your Christmas Card, but include a check while you're at it. God bless the American Civil Liberties Union for the good job they are doing.

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