The Catholic Defender: War on Christmas

War on Christmas is a war on Christianity.

“Political Correctness” is an instrument of war on Christians.

The whole debate on “Church and State” comes from a liberal mindset set out to tear down the culture our nation was founded upon.

Thomas Jefferson responded to the Dansbury Baptist Association out of Connecticut saying:

To messers. Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut.

Gentlemen

The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, 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 & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves & your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem.

Th Jefferson
Jan. 1. 1802.

Our founding Fathers had a respect for the religious rights and liberties of our Nation. Those basic rights and liberties are under attack by a “progressive” and liberal assault on our religious freedoms. Check this most recent example of our current administration’s attempt to diminish religious rights. The following is by Fox News & Commentary Todd Starnes:

“Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said they are rescinding a policy that prohibits family members of wounded military troops from bringing Bibles or any religious reading materials to their loved ones.

The announcement came one day after a Republican lawmaker called on President Obama to publicly denounce the military policy.“The President of the United States should address this and should excoriate the people who brought about this policy and the individual who brought it about should be dismissed from the United States Military,” Rep. Steve King (R-IA) told Fox News & Commentary:

King spoke from the House floor Thursday blasting a policy memorandum from the commander of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center written by Chief of Staff C.W. Callahan.

The September 14th memo covers guidelines for “wounded, ill, and injured partners in care.”

“No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit,” the policy states.

“That means you can’t bring in a Bible and read from it when you visit your son or your daughter, perhaps – or your wife or husband,” King said.

“It means a priest that might be coming in to visit someone on their death bed couldn’t bring in the Eucharist, couldn’t offer Last Rites. This is the most outrageous affront.”

A spokesperson for the medical center told Fox News late Friday that the policy will be rewritten and its intent will be made “crystal clear.”“The instructions about the Bibles and reading material have been rescinded,” said Sandy Dean, a public affairs officer for Walter Reed. “It will be written to articulate our initial intention which was to respect religious and cultural practices of our patients.”

Dean said the instruction was “in no way meant to prohibit family members from providing religious items to their loved ones at all.”If that’s the case, why is the policy being rescinded?“We don’t want there to be any misinterpretation of what we’re trying to say,” she told Fox News. “We appreciate Congressman King bringing this to our attention. We don’t want our instructions to be ambiguous.”We appreciate him bringing it to our attention.

Rep. King said the military has some explaining to do.“I don’t think there’s any excuse for it and there’s no talking it away,” King told Fox News. “The very existence of this, whether it’s enforced or not, tells you what kind of a mindset is there.”“The idea that these soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that have fought to defend our Constitution, and that includes our First Amendment rights to religious liberty –would be denied that religious liberty when they are lying in a hospital bed recovering from wounds incurred while defending that liberty is the most bitter and offensive type of an irony that I can think of,” he said.

The policy has brought strong condemnation from religious and conservative advocacy groups.“It flies in the face of not only the Bill of Rights, but 200 years of federal law,” said Ken Klukwoski, of the Family Research Council.

“This current administration is showing unprecedented hostility towards those practicing the Christian faith.”“But beyond that,” he told Fox News, “We’ve also seen a militantly secular attitude of trying to sterilize the Defense Department of all references to faith.”Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, echoed Rep. King’s demand that whoever is responsible for the memo be fired.

“It cannot be allowed to stand,” Land told Fox News. “It must be rescinded and the people responsible for perpetrating it should be fired.”Land said the policy “shows the ugly face of the pseudo-tolerance of secularism.”“They claim to be tolerant but this is as intolerant as you can be – to not allow wounded soldiers to have religious artifacts,” Land said.

King said Americans must “take a very strong stand.”“Christians are generally nice people and for that reason they can victimize the Christians in this country,” he said. “There was a reason that Christ gave us the demonstration of righteous anger when he threw the money changers out of the temple. It gives us some license to throw these kinds of people out of the military.”

King said he’s been alarmed at a trend he’s seen to scrub Christianity from the military – most recently the decision to remove a cross from an Army chapel in northern Afghanistan because it violated Army regulations.He placed the blame on the Obama Administration.“This is Orwellian,” he said. “Who would have believed even two or five years ago that the Executive branch of government led by our Commander in Chief Barack Obama would produce some kind of document that would prohibit family members coming into our military hospitalsKlukwoski said he’s noticed a similar trend in what he called “anti-faith measures.”

“We are seeing a shocking level of hostility towards religious faith but beyond that – we’ve also seen a militantly secular attitude of trying to sterilize the defense department of all references to faith and references,” he said.”

I personally can attest to this attack on Christians by our Government. September 2010, I was deeply honored to bring John Michael Talbot to Fort Hood. John Michael Talbot is a work class artist who has sold multiple millions of albums.

He wanted to pay respect and honor for those killed and wounded on 5 November 2009 at Ft. Hood.

The Public Offairs office and the MWR both refused to help us promote this two evening concert. I was warned that John could not sell product even though this is routinely done at concerts at Ft. Hood by visiting groups. I was warned they would shut the concert down.

The hostility towards John Michael Talbot centered on the fact that he is a devout Christian. This was not promoted as a mandatory concert but an open concert for anyone who would like to come. If John would have been Mic Jagger they would have been all over themselves.

Consider also Arleen Ocasio, Director of the Houston National cemetery, censored freedom of religion and prayer. This is what she wanted to do with the chapel at the cemetery:

1.… instructed Veterans of Foreign Wars District 4 to remove prayers from its burial rituals and to no longer utter remarks when handing the discharged shell cases from the rifle salute to the family of deceased veterans.
2.… instructed American Legion Post 586 to remove prayers from its burial rituals.
3.… told the National Memorial Ladies that they could no longer include “God Bless” in their condolence cards or speak religious messages to veterans’ families.
4.… shut down the Cemetery chapel and use it now for only a storage and meeting facility.

Can you believe what is happening? I was just watching Fox News Show, America’s News Headquarters (3 Dec 2011) and the debate of Tim Tebow’s faith took center stage.

Tim Tebow is the quarterback for the Denver Broncos who has been defying the odds against him with a 5 and 1 record to this point.

The response of the main stream media speaks loudly how they do not like faith in America. I have always been a Kansas City Chiefs fan since before the beginning of the Superbowl era beginning in 1966.

They have been my childhood team since those early days of the old American Football League. Since the merger with the National Football League, the Chiefs have only won one superbowl and it has been a continued droubt for more than 40 years.

Right now, I am enjoying the success of Tim Tebow and so I look forward each week for “Tebow Time”! With this situation, I am wanting to show that the media will go after anyone who stands up for Christian faith and values.

The new Gay Agenda pushed for by this present administration is having a terrible negative affect.

This past week a distrought Soldier asked to talk to me privately. He was seriously thinking about getting out of the Army because he sees his faith being attacked in the Army.

The Soldier is a classic Buch Sergeant considered a Mid-Career Soldier. Someone we should be encouraging to stay in because of the experience he has developed in leading new recruits.

I encouraged him to hang in there for at least until after the election. If the Republicans retake the Senate and the Presidency, we should be able to restore family values in our culture.

This is becoming typical as our Military Chaplains are bearing a lot of burden dealing with disgruntled Soldiers. My Brigade Chaplain told me that the Gay Activists had visited the Military Chaplains Corps informing them they would have to modify what they preach from the pulpit.

It doesn’t take long for the truth to come out. The Secular Humanists are wanting to destroy the Church in America who stands against them on morality. The Church is the one major hindrance of the sexual revolution.

This Christmas, when you see the war on Christmas, remember that is is not really against Santa Clause that is spearheading this attack. It is the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church.