Secular Fundamentalists

[Exegete12]

In our country the government recently said to their government departments, that they must not use the word Merry Christmas, but seasons greetings instead.

THis is because it may be offensive to some minority groups. (Not to mention that Christians are a minority)

Now I thought this was just as appeasement at the Muslims coming to live here in this country. But in hindsight I don't think it is, check this out in a newspaper from NZ:

EDITORIAL: Nothing save our Queen

10.01.2007

A new tyranny creeps over the land from a least-suspected quarter, flourishing because intolerance is unthinkingly tolerated.
Air New Zealand's in-flight screening of The Queen brought complaints from passengers it had been expurgated of all references to God. The airline said the "word" may have been deleted at the request of other airlines. Suppliers, Flight Productions, Los Angeles, said the version may have been intended for Middle Eastern airlines.

That explanation raises more questions than it answers. Since when was Islam coy about the mention of God? Not surprisingly, New Zealand Muslims are as baffled as Christians.




So, is there an atheists' airline?
Mistake or not, the deliberate omission reveals the creeping totalitarianism of those who despise all religion. Atheism has become the new radicalism; militant non-believers "secular fundamentalists".

Sociologist Frank Furedi wrote recently that the contemporary climate of hostility to faith haS encouraged the emergence of a group of professional atheists who "other than a hatred of religion, has little to say ... anti-religious hysteria evades confronting the causes of many of the difficulties facing society through blaming them on religion. "The new atheists often pick on relatively simple targets like creationism and intelligent design to demonstrate their intellectual superiority".

In The Guardian this week British author Tobias Jones wrote that in recent years "these unpleasant people" had a strategy of exploiting Britain's innate politeness.

"They realised that for a decade overly sensitive souls (called the PC brigade) had bent over backwards to avoid giving offence.

"But the fundamentalists saw an opening. Because we live in a multiconfessional society, they fostered the falsehood that wearing a crucifix or a veil or a turban was deeply offensive to other faiths. They pretended to be protecting religious sensibilities as a pretext to strip us of all religious expression."

In New Zealand, we have seen the results of embracing the new fundamentalism and the assumption that secularism is more virtuous because it accommodates all beliefs (without allowing for the possibility beliefs might accommodate each other). Fear of giving offence is touted as the reason for crossless hot cross buns and bans on "Christmas" parties: The result is that everyone is offended.

Jones writes that "the tyranny of orthodoxy has been replaced by the tyranny of relativism ... You're supposed to believe in nothing, and hence nihilists and atheists are suddenly rather chic. Postmodernism has taken tolerance to the extremes, where extremists thrive. It's a dangerous form of appeasement".

And the greatest appeasers, he says, have been the believers, many of whom until recently, hid their religion in the closet.

"Until a few years ago religion was similar to soft drugs: a blind eye was turned to private use but woe betide if you were caught dealing. Only recently have believers realised that religion is certainly personal, but it can never be private.

"The point about believers is that they are obeying (and disobeying) all sorts of commandments that the state doesn't see or understand. Because they are able to differentiate sin from crime, they have a moral register more nuanced than most. Even a wise atheist knows believers can deal with social anarchy much better than the state ever can.

"That is why these fundamentalists are so in evidence. They're not only needled by their own hypocrisy; they are also furious that believers have broken the old pact to stay out of public debate."

Consciously or not, adherents of aggressive secularism divide and conquer by provoking intolerance and by their determination to impose their will on everyone else. With the bogey of religious zealotry ever-present, it is as well to recognise the works of the new fundamentalists when it emerges. The Godless in-flight movie was one of the easier efforts to spot.

So maybe times are changing. What I see happening, is that secular nations want to counteract the rise of Islam in their countries. The only way to first do this is by cracking down on the Christian's beliefs, they know we won't jump up and down and make a big thing about it. Afterall Christmas and Easter stem from pagan festivals to start with.

But once they have muzzled Christians (an easier target) then they will muzzle Muslims (a much harder target). I think this is what they want to do. They see all wars as being fuelled by religion. But then communism was never fuelled by religion, but an idealogy.

Religion doesn't cause wars if we just look at the communists.

 

[yaqovzadeek]

In our country the government recently said to their government departments, that they must not use the word Merry Christmas, but seasons greetings instead.

THis is because it may be offensive to some minority groups. (Not to mention that Christians are a minority)

Now I thought this was just as appeasement at the Muslims coming to live here in this country. But in hindsight I don't think it is, check this out in a newspaper from NZ:



So maybe times are changing. What I see happening, is that secular nations want to counteract the rise of Islam in their countries. The only way to first do this is by cracking down on the Christian's beliefs, they know we won't jump up and down and make a big thing about it.
But once they have muzzled Christians (an easier target) then they will muzzle Muslims (a much harder target). I think this is what they want to do. They see all wars as being fuelled by religion. But then communism was never fuelled by religion, but an idealogy.

Religion doesn't cause wars if we just look at the communists.

Afterall Christmas and Easter stem from pagan festivals to start with..

Hi lady
I am happy you raised the issue yourself, I am sure if I had said it I would be accused of attacking christianity, so now we have it alhannah (christian ) not muslim agrees that Christian and Easter stem from paganism. I wonder how long it would be before she admits much more of christianity stems from paganism. By the way have you ever heard of Christian fundamentalism.there is loads of it in the US.

Chill Lady
peace
yaqovzadeek
aka james the Just

 

[Eudaimonist]

What I see happening, is that secular nations want to counteract the rise of Islam in their countries. The only way to first do this is by cracking down on the Christian's beliefs, they know we won't jump up and down and make a big thing about it.

No one wants to "crack down" on Christian beliefs. Postmodernism and political correctness certainly have their excesses in their efforts to protect people's feelings, but there is no concerted secular effort to "crack down" on Christianity or Islam. The requirement that people use "Season's Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas" in government agencies hardly constitutes some assault on Christianity.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Isis-Astoroth]

I don't believe atheism is the problem here. I think changing Merry Christmas to Season's Greetings is a bit silly. I have many friends who are not Christian, some of them send cards at christmas because they like to. None of them has ever said they hated Christmas because it was Christian. Certainly none of them found it offensive. Let us face it though, the government of the UK anyway are trying to seem more 'other religion friendly.' In England anyway, I think when someone says 'God' or reads it, they automatically think of Christianity, because historically and still somewhat now, it is a Christian country. To be honest, though there are some quite aggressive atheists around, I don't really think they are to blame for rather politically correct changes to texts. Most people, in my experience that don't really have a religion aren't necessarily atheists but agnostic or as with some of my family, simply don't care.

 

[srev2004]

In our country the government recently said to their government departments, that they must not use the word Merry Christmas, but seasons greetings instead.

THis is because it may be offensive to some minority groups. (Not to mention that Christians are a minority)

Now I thought this was just as appeasement at the Muslims coming to live here in this country. But in hindsight I don't think it is, check this out in a newspaper from NZ:



So maybe times are changing. What I see happening, is that secular nations want to counteract the rise of Islam in their countries. The only way to first do this is by cracking down on the Christian's beliefs, they know we won't jump up and down and make a big thing about it. Afterall Christmas and Easter stem from pagan festivals to start with.

But once they have muzzled Christians (an easier target) then they will muzzle Muslims (a much harder target). I think this is what they want to do. They see all wars as being fuelled by religion. But then communism was never fuelled by religion, but an idealogy.

Religion doesn't cause wars if we just look at the communists.

this is dumb. I mean we should keep religion personal and mainly practice it only in our places or worship and our houses, but to not be able to greet each other on a holiday is crossing the line.

 

[StairsInMyHouse]

I think most of the people who prefer "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" do so because it's simply more inclusive, not because "Merry Christmas" is offensive. It's not that "Merry Christmas" puts me off (heck, I celebrate Christmas as a non-religious family holiday, so no problem), it's that when someone uses one of the other terms I feel like they're being a bit more thoughtful. All the same, if someone says "Merry Christmas" to me I say "Merry Christmas" right back.

As for bleeping out "God" in an in-flight movie, it sounds more like some clueless person worrying too much over what others will find offensive, and not some sort of secular humanist conspiracy. Of course, that won't stop some people from making it out to be one. My rule of thumb for things like this is, don't attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity. I seriously doubt there is a communist conspiracy to take God out of our airplanes.

 

[Oxy2Hydr0]

I was listening to NPR or National Public Radio about this topic. The main objectors to "Merry Christmas" were Jews whom have said they find it offensive to be greeted in such a way.

The majority of people who propagate "Merry Christian" when greeting people are Christians or those who have some sort affiliation with the religion.

I for one dislike it, Christians in my opinion should be a bit more aware that every stranger they dont know on the is not a Christian.

You dont hear Jews or Muslims greeting those they dont know or those out side of their religion with happy Eid or Happy Hanukka, only Christian are known to do this.

 

[yaqovzadeek]

Well if christmas was actually jesus birthday then may be we can consider but it had nothing to do with Jesus 25 December was a Pagan festival celebrated 300o before Jesu was even born. I mean we took the day of Eid a muslim festival just to bring Christians in and say it was a holy christian festival would all christians run and expect others to run and celebrate EID
peace
yaqovzadeek
aka james the just

 

[Deepsey]

In our country the government recently said to their government departments, that they must not use the word Merry Christmas, but seasons greetings instead.

THis is because it may be offensive to some minority groups. (Not to mention that Christians are a minority)

I don't think it is offensive to say to me merry christmas. I haven't heard of this recent thing about norway (i live in norway).
Do you mind giving me a link or something to this event from a norwegian newspaper or something unless you are joking? (Like i would have expected it to make some noice)

Edit:

But once they have muzzled Christians (an easier target) then they will muzzle Muslims (a much harder target). I think this is what they want to do. They see all wars as being fuelled by religion. But then communism was never fuelled by religion, but an idealogy.

I don't have the habit of celebrating. But i don't think it will pass easily when something is forced on my faith within my range of understanding. ... And who are "they"?