Grinch This!

From The Atheists Who Try to Steal Christmas by Mary Grabar:

Tis the season. . . for atheist Grinches to display their hatred of Christmas by trying to stomp out one of the most visible displays of Christianity in a country founded, and still operating on, Judeo-Christian principles.

Good God Almighty! First of all, why would atheists want to steal something they don’t want? What would an atheist do with Christmas once he stole it? Contrary to popular belief, most atheists are very moral people and would never think of stealing anything.

Mary Grabar gets it, and doesn’t get it, all in one short sentence: “… to display their hatred of Christmas by trying to stomp out one of the most visible displays of Christianity…”. Many atheists dislike, even hate, Christmas because of its incessant visibility. Some atheists simply want equal time. Some, like me, would be happier without Christmas. After all, the true meaning of Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the son of God. Again, Good God Almighty, why would an atheist possibly object to that?

How idiotic is it to write of “Judeo-Christian principles” while trying to defend the righteousness of Christmas?

How many times will “good” Christians ('You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.') repeat the lie that the United States was founded as a Christian nation?

In Fighting Words For A Secular America Robin Morgan says it better than I will ever be able to:

The Declaration of Independence contains not one word on religion, basing its authority on the shocking idea that power is derived from ordinary people, which challenged European traditions of rule by divine right and/or heavenly authority. (Remember, George III was king of England and anointed head of its church.)

The words “Nature’s God,” the “Creator” and “divine Providence ” do appear in the Declaration. But in its context — an era, and author, Thomas Jefferson, that celebrated science and the Enlightenment — these words are analogous to our contemporary phrase “life force.”

Jerry Falwell notoriously blamed 9/11 on “pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays and lesbians … [and other groups] who have tried to secularize America.” He’s a bit late: In 1798, Alexander Hamilton accused Jefferson of a “conspiracy to establish atheism on the ruins of Christianity” in the new republic. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence William Boykin thunders, “We’re a Christian nation.”

But the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli — initiated by George Washington and signed into law by John Adams — proclaims: “The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian Religion.”

Click on the link above (or this one right here) and read the quotes that Robin Morgan has gathered together from Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.

To pick one, here is Thomas Paine:

Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory in itself than this thing called Christianity.

Religious people wonder why atheists are so angry. One answer is people like Mary Grabar. I try very hard to be civil when I write about this topic, however it takes every bit of restraint that my body and mind possess to refrain from hurling every epithet of a cursing nature that I know of at people like Mary Grabar. And like any good American, I know quite a few.

There are fifteen paragraphs in her article. I’ve only written about the first one, as well as the idiotic title. Will the future bring fourteen more posts from me about what an idiot Mary Grabar is?

Update:
I just found this. Last year Jillian at Sadly, No! proposed a new verb:

Grabar (vi): To ramble incoherently on a topic about which you know nothing, esp. in a manner possibly offensive to listeners, most often while in a state of extreme intoxication or other cognitive impairment. “Dude, you so totally grabared at the party yesterday that my girlfriend doesn’t want me hanging out with you anymore.”