Ahhh Christmas! It’s that magical time of year when millions of people from all walks of life come together to observe the glorious birth of Jesus Christ. Whether its pepper spraying 20 fellow shoppers for an Xbox, rioting over a $2 waffle maker, or nonchalantly stepping over a dead man at Target to save that extra buck, there is no denying that the season brings out the best in each and every one of us.
But it’s not just the mindless shoppers that are in the Christmas spirit. Atheists are spreading their holiday cheer too by crucifying Santa Claus and hijacking nativity displays with their own messages. Needless to say while they aren’t very creative, they certainly do a good job at pissing off intolerant Christians. And yes… it didn’t take long before the crucified Santa was destroyed.
As an added bonus this year, the St Matthew-in-the-City church of Auckland, New Zealand decided to jump into the fray with a very clever billboard (Atheist groups should take note) depicting The “Virgin” Mary looking at a positive pregnancy test. Pure genius!
The point of the image according to the church itself was to encourage people to think about the real meaning of Christmas. To remind people that it isn’t about Santa, $2 waffle makers, or any of that crap. It’s about a real baby.
While I personally don’t believe that Jesus was the son of God, I can at least respect their beliefs and use my words, not physical actions, to disagree. Someone else didn’t and not surprisingly they vandalized the billboard. More of that Christian tolerance I guess.
The church’s response was spot-on:
Frankly, we are tired of Christian intolerance—and embarrassed by it. As Christians we need to wonder if we can truly love our neighbours while demonizing them? When will we recognize that none of us have the whole truth? When will we recognize that those who hold contrary opinions are not ‘of the devil’? When will we recognize that truth comes in many guises, often in unexpected ways?
As I observe all this holiday cheer I can’t help but wonder where the hell this is all leading. It’s not just the Christians, Jews, and Muslims proselytizing anymore. Atheists are increasingly being more vocal in an attempt to increase their flock.
Is there a middle ground or will this only end once we all share the same beliefs? Is that even possible?
Happy Holidays :)
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Holy Crap!
I was just sitting last night thinking about seeing if what used to be my favourite site had seen any more activity, and lo and behold there is!
Anyone would there was some magical sky daddy up there or something!
Welcome back Gasmonso :)
The few do not reflect the many. As I am sure there are atheists out there that would never vandalize a religious ‘anything’ there are Christians out there who don’t feel the ‘all non-believers are of the devil and should be treated as such’ mentality. (In fact, if those Christians studied their bible, it would tell them the exact opposite… however not to the point of Jesus appointed field goals.)
The poignant word is ‘hate.’ I don’t understand the point of hating anyone. Views aside, humans are humans, we make mistakes and hurt each other. And the wise know that retaliation won’t succeed in accomplishing anything but further retaliation. No Atheist will convert to Christianity by hate mongering and vandalism, and no Christian will see Atheism as worthy of respect from hate mongering and vandalism either.
No matter what your view, we have idiots on all sides of the battle.