I was going to stay out of this LGBTQ-against-the-Christians argument, even after the inconsistent arguments offered up by Noah Davis-Power in a letter on Dec. 18 (“Operation Christmas Child is finally gone”). But after The Telegram had the good sense to print a follow-up letter on Dec. 21 from Tolson Chapman (“Salvation Army, beware”), I just had to offer a few thoughts.
Firstly, fair enough — LGBTQs don’t want to be discriminated against. Point taken, but if you want to do away with the “relics” of religion such as “prayers’ and “clergy” and have them “placed where it belongs, in the past,” then the last sentence in the Davis-Powers’ letter about how Christmas should be for everyone goes beyond the bounds of continuity of argument. Why not just do away with Christmas as “a relic of the past” and have done with it?
It would seem that “no one gets left behind and no one is left out” except the Christians being kicked out of their own celebration. They have been told to take their toys and go home. Christmas is not for Christians anymore.
Secondly, I would suggest if you don’t like Christmas you should start your own secular holiday (Festivus, maybe? Or bring back some good old bacchanalian revelry if you really want to get things going), and gracefully bow out of celebrating the birth of the Saviour and leave Christmas for the Christians to do as they wish, if that is still to be allowed in our atheistic media-mad world.
All the stalwart defenders of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost (and, of course, the Virgin Mary) may yet still be able to resist the cultural appropriation and destruction of their most cherished tradition by non-believers, and I would suggest that if you want to get to the true meaning of Christmas you might start by remembering that the birth of Christ was the fulfilment of the ancient prophecy of Isaiah (a Jewish prophet of the Old Testament) before you start reclaiming it for your post-modernist bad self, while out of the other side of your mouth you have rejoiced as the “remnants of the religious influence faded away.”
Thirdly, Christians are also not supporters of abortion. So are we now to not allow them into our hospitals to do charitable works or participate in our health-care system, where abortion is legal?
The implications are widespread and just a little confusing.
Fourthly, a gay man recently said to me in regards to Christianity, “I don’t believe in fairy tales,” to which I replied: “My friend, if you don’t believe in God, all you’ve got left is fairy tales.” And I’ll just leave it at that.
Merry Christmas, and a Happy Festivus to the non-believers.
Craig Noseworthy
St. John’s
