First there was the war on drugs. Then came the war on terror. Now America's conservatives are deeply involved in another fight-to-the-death crusade that pits good against evil, faithful against heathens and the righteous against the sinners.
They call it "The War on Christmas."
In churches and living rooms, religious folks lament the attack on Christmas, supposedly masterminded by the left-wing conspiracy in the media.
PHOTO: AP
The proof? In malls and schools across the nation, in private homes and public buildings, and even, Lord have mercy, in the White House itself, the traditional greeting of Merry Christmas has been replaced by "Happy Holidays."
The 1.4 million greeting cards sent out by US President George W. Bush portrayed the presidential pets sitting in the snow outside the White House and offered recipients "Best wishes for a holiday season of hope and happiness."
The annual White House greeting card has been secular for 13 years, and the last president to send explicitly Christmas greetings was Bush's father in 1992. But this year, as some folks even try to commit the heresy of calling Christmas trees festival trees, conservatives have decided to make a stand.
Pluralistic holiday language might seem fitting for a country that calls itself the world's greatest democracy, whose constitution enshrines the idea of separation between church and state.
But not to the combatants in the War on Christmas.
"It's all part of the secular progressive agenda to get Christi-anity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square," conservative populist Bill O'Reilly of Fox News said.
One of the main targets in the war appears to be the American Civil Liberties Union, a longtime conservative bogeyman. Numerous religious organizations like the Catholic League and the American Family Association called for boycotts of chain stores like Target and Wal-Mart for their failure to acknowledge the birth of the messiah.
American Family Association President Tim Wildmon said stores should display "Merry Christmas" signs prominently "if they expect Christians to come in and buy products during this so-called season."
But opponents see a powerful religious sector, which already dominates the political landscape, now inventing a crisis to raise money and divert attention from the real issues facing the US.
"These are the things that we should be talking about when we are waging this war in Iraq, we should be equating it to the war on Christmas," liberal radio host Sam Seder said when debating Knight on CNN.
The notion of a war on Christmas is "nonsense," Jeremy Gunn, director of the ACLU's Programme on Freedom of Religion and Belief said.
"Christians can put religious displays on church and personal property, and the ACLU will defend their right to do so," Gunn said.
Behind a car repair business on a nondescript Thai street are the cherished pets of a rising TikTok animal influencer: two lions and a 200-kilogram lion-tiger hybrid called “Big George.” Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline companions to nearly three million followers. “They’re playful and affectionate, just like dogs or cats,” he said from inside their cage complex at his home in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Thailand’s captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes. Experts warn the
The unexpected collapse of the recall campaigns is being viewed through many lenses, most of them skewed and self-absorbed. The international media unsurprisingly focuses on what they perceive as the message that Taiwanese voters were sending in the failure of the mass recall, especially to China, the US and to friendly Western nations. This made some sense prior to early last month. One of the main arguments used by recall campaigners for recalling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers was that they were too pro-China, and by extension not to be trusted with defending the nation. Also by extension, that argument could be
Aug. 4 to Aug. 10 When Coca-Cola finally pushed its way into Taiwan’s market in 1968, it allegedly vowed to wipe out its major domestic rival Hey Song within five years. But Hey Song, which began as a manual operation in a family cow shed in 1925, had proven its resilience, surviving numerous setbacks — including the loss of autonomy and nearly all its assets due to the Japanese colonial government’s wartime economic policy. By the 1960s, Hey Song had risen to the top of Taiwan’s beverage industry. This success was driven not only by president Chang Wen-chi’s
The centuries-old fiery Chinese spirit baijiu (白酒), long associated with business dinners, is being reshaped to appeal to younger generations as its makers adapt to changing times. Mostly distilled from sorghum, the clear but pungent liquor contains as much as 60 percent alcohol. It’s the usual choice for toasts of gan bei (乾杯), the Chinese expression for bottoms up, and raucous drinking games. “If you like to drink spirits and you’ve never had baijiu, it’s kind of like eating noodles but you’ve never had spaghetti,” said Jim Boyce, a Canadian writer and wine expert who founded World Baijiu Day a decade
RSS