Pope Francis - Culture Warrior

Heh. Read it here.   The Church has spent the better part of the last few generations losing.  Protestants were ahead of the game and started their surrendering some generations earlier.  The defeats have been a string of battles large and small, but all adding up to one thing: Convincing people that the Gospel is false, therefore to be abandoned. 

'Happy Holidays' and 'Seasons Greetings' have been around for many moons. There was nothing wrong with them.  And people with advanced sensitivities no doubt dropped a generic greeting in mixed company, or if they were in the presence of someone who, for instance, is Jewish.   That was no problem and I doubt too many gave it much thought.

But somewhere, at some point, it started to be insisted upon.  And among the earliest mischief makers were Jewish activists who rode the 1970s wave in America's reassessment of itself.  Perhaps it happened at another time in Europe.  But here in the colonies, it was when I could remember that suddenly we were told to say the non-Christian version of the greeting.

This reached a zenith back when our wonderful corporate brothers got caught telling their employees to drop the J-Word or any overtly Christian terminology at this time of year. Keep secular in Christmas, or so were the directives.  That was when FOX branded it the 'War on Christmas.'  An over the top phrase to be sure.  And false.  It wasn't just a war on Christmas, but on Christ and His Church, as it ultimately always is. 

But these are not small things.  Forcing people to speak words is a classic way of control.  All societies have their taboos and polite language that excludes certain words or phrases.  But forcing people to say things they disagree with, especially when they are true, is a good indicator that something seriously wrong is happening. 

Those who poo-poo such worries (I'm looking at you Russ Moore) are often found to be people who are giving up the fight.  Compromise, surrender, giving up - whatever.  We've seen many who, decades ago, laughed at worrying about such trivial things jump ship or in some way or another find ways to suck up to this new world order.  That is, they shouldn't have been trusted.

In this case, I agree with Pope Francis.  It's a sign of dictatorships to control people on this level.  It's not a laughing matter.  Remember, we're looking at the state of things today for a reason.  It wasn't some sudden massive attack on our civilization.  It was the death of a thousand cuts.  And this little gem, this 'War on Christmas', was merely one of those thousands too many ignored or downplayed when we could have stood up for the cause.