I don't know why so many of my posts seem to center around wanna-be American theocrats. Maybe it's because they've been so prominent lately. Maybe it's because in the death throes of the Bush disaster, er, presidency, they are preparing a fresh assault on religious freedom. Or maybe it's because they are stubbornly failing to recognize that the American public's patience with them is starting to grow thin. Really, there's only so much trashing you can do of basic American freedoms before the average American wakes up and yells "Sit the hell down - I can't see my football game!"
So anyway, it's April, which means two things. 1) It's been a month since my last post. How low have I fallen that my once-daily blog has become a monthly? 2) It's time for the annual running of the religiots who think the Easter Bunny is the only thing holding civilized society together.
I've recently moved from Norcross, GA to Dekalb County, GA. This means a few things for me. My commute is a lot shorter. The supermarkets sell more Kosher food. Cynthia McKinney is my Representative. And I get a local weekly newspaper called the Dunwoody Crier. And this week, the bottom half of the front page was plastered with a South Park-ian bunny who looks scared for his life below the headline, "'Spring bunny' almost trumps Easter at Perimeter Mall" "by Cathy Cobbs". Wow. Thank goodness for Cathy Cobbs. Otherwise we might not have known that Easter was ever in such danger. As the managing editor of The Crier, I'm sure she knows this is Big News. OK - I'm being facetious. Nothing happens in Dunwoody. Really. It's got to be tough to fill your paper with enough copy so you can sell ads when there's nothing to write. Still, it doesn't excuse irresponsible rabble-rousing.
The story starts out with a reference to the ubiquitous, mysterious "some" people. Cobbs wrote, "In what some believe is another attempt to remove a religious connotation from holidays...". Translation: "In what I want you to believe.." Cobbs interviewed 2 people, the sole complainant Sherry Pettitt and the suckup marketing manager of the mall, Lisa Shepherd. It was Sherry Pettitt who got the whole ball rolling in fact. She was so upset to see how badly Christians were being persecuted in front of Dillards that she sent emails to a dozen news publications.
Originally, according to the mall, they were not celebrating Easter at all. The bunny was there to help celebrate spring. As someone who eats lunch in the Perimeter Mall food court, I can attest that springtime at the mall is distinct from other times. People who were staying indoors during the cold weather start flooding the food court and departments stores once the mercury stays in the 70's and 80's. Too bad they didn't know that the rabbit is now the property of militant Christians and must only be used to celebrate Easter. (All rabbits are hereby named "Easter Bunny") And failure to celebrate Easter is nothing less than a vicious attack on Christians. God help you if you try to be inclusive. A 1996 survey found that 13% of the residents of Dunwoody and neighboring Sandy Springs were Jewish. Add that to the people who are Muslim, atheist, or adhere to another religion, and you have a sizeable population that doesn't identify with Easter.
So what do Sherry Pettitt and her cabal of religious extremists say to Perimeter Mall's statement that "many backgrounds, cultures and religions do not celebrate the Easter holidah and Perimeter Mall wants our springtime children's character to be familiar and appealing to all shoppers"? She says, "I am sick of it!"
I'm just dying to bump into this woman at Publix or Target.
7 comments:
If only people like you spent more time worrying about militant Islam instead of militant Christianity, the world would be a much better place.
Most Christians I talk to applaud the separation of the rabbit from Easter. Easter is about Christ overcoming death and being at the right hand of the Father. The Easter bunny takes away from the message of Christ.
I've read some of your previous posts and your ignorance of the Christian faith is evident. Your anti-Christian rants expose you as the bigot you are.
If only people like you spent more time worrying about militant Islam instead of militant Christianity, the world would be a much better place.
I assume that by "people like you" you mean, "people I wish didn't exist." As a Jew, what do I care whether my identity and existence is threatened by Christian extremists or Muslim extremists or by the Easter bunny? Either way, someone's out to get me. At least Jews have learned to deal with militant Arab Muslims. It's the Christians who have killed far more of us.
By the way, it's considered somewhat rude and extremely cowardly to call people names while you hide behind a mask of anonymity.
Anonymous,
I wanted to apologize for the comment on your anonymity. Checking my web stats, I realize you've been a long time reader, and this is probably the first comment you've made.
I hope you know that while I have very strong beliefs, I do welcome educated, thoughtful, supported argument. It's not that I'm unwilling to change my mind - it's just that statements like "your ignorance of the Christian faith is evident" is a shotgun accusation that is both impossible to refute and impossible to rectify.
I would be interested in hearing exactly what parts of your faith I am ignorant of and what parts of my post you disagreed with.
And I guarantee that if a Muslim had the temerity to write such an article in a local paper, my reaction would be at least as strong.
If only people like you spent more time worrying about militant Islam instead of militant Christianity, the world would be a much better place.
You know, when militant Islam poses as direct a threat to America as militant Christianity does, I'll worry about it more.
Militant Islam attacked this country on 9/11 and did significant damage. For one day. (And before you lecture me on "not understanding 9/11," please know that I live in New York. I saw 9/11 unfold outside my apartment, not on TV, and I've lived every day since knowing that this government hasn't done anything at all to make me safer from that threat. In fact, their foreign policy approach of hitting the beehive with a stick has only made it worse.)
Meanwhile, militant Christianity has done this country infinitely greater damage -- lowering the public discourse, dividing the American people against each other on one wedge issue after another, ratcheting up threats of violence against doctors and now judges, and generally trampling on the Constitution. They've wormed their way into the highest levels of power through the Republican Party and, as a result, pose a much greater threat to America than any militant Muslim.
But worst of all, as a Christian, I despise the way they've turned Christ's message of love and forgiveness into a bile-filled rant of hatred and division. They're so worried about their own sense of victimhood -- as the War on Christmas eases into the War on Easter and then who knows what else -- that they've rejected Christ's message about looking out for the real victims in society, the least among us.
does she realize that bunnies and eggs are leftovers from pagan fertility rites?
Hi Scott!
Please know that not all Christians are not 'militants'.
I am Christian and as an American I defend your right to not be Christian as I defend my right to be a Christian.
As far as Easter, it does have roots in Paganism. I don't have a problem with people celebrating Easter if they wish to.
I focus on what I feel is important - the resurrection of Christ. We, as a family discuss Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and the Feast of Weeks - which are from the Old Testament or Jewish history. These are very important events that foreshadow Christianity.
I do feel that a lot of your posts are of your opinion rather than the truth, though.
Hi Truth - good to see I have competition in the honesty business :) Your comment is on a column that's 2 years old, but that's really more my fault than yours, I suppose. Anyway, I'm glad you took the time to read and reply.
Anyway, I do sincerely want to make it clear that I'm not painting mainstream Christians as militants - rather I'm pointing out a certain type of militant. They're all annoying, but what's particularly worrying about the Christian variety is that they seem to get a free pass in the media. Maybe it's because all the journalists feel guilty for not going to church more often. I don't know.
I'm not offended by an Easter bunny at the mall, and I think it's vaguely insulting that some people (read: my son's school) think that renaming the Easter Bunny the "Spring Bunny" makes it more acceptable to non-Christians. But I do get offended when people use the law and the media to force store owners to pay lip service to a certain version of religion.
God Bless you, Truth, for loving your religion and for understanding that it's how you celebrate it that counts.
P.S. You discovered my dirty little secret - yes this column is my opinion, but I do like to think I have rigorously backing myself up with facts.
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