Merry Winter Holiday

I saw an episode of “Sid the Science Kid” with my pre-schooler recently where Sid was going to go to Minnesota for the “winter holiday”.

Winter holiday. Bah. One mustn’t offend anyone who practices a different religion—or who practices no religion at all, n’est-ce pas? So why, then, did Sid pretend to be Santa Claus? What winter holiday, exactly, is it that is associated with Santa Claus? Oh, that’s right, Christmas. So if Sid could pretend to be Santa Claus, why couldn’t Sid be going to Minnesota for Christmas? Oh, wait, Sid was just pretending to be Santa Claus. I see now; that makes such a big difference.

Why can’t Sid be Christian without that offending anyone? And isn’t Santa Claus based on the historical figure of St. Nicholas? What religion is associated with St. Nicholas, anyway? Christianity again.

If you’re going to exclude Christmas, please just exclude Santa Claus too.

Oh, and by the way, if you’re looking for someone not to offend, try not to offend the largest segment of the population. Here’s a hint: I find the inclusion of Santa Claus juxtaposed with the exclusion of Christmas to be offensive.

Drawing the Wrong Message from the Bible

I understand how some could claim that Christ was a socialist, given that the early Church was communal (Acts 4:32-35 RSV).

I know that Christ was not a socialist, though, because socialism in its fullest flower, i.e., National Socialism (Nazism) and Communism, is irreligious, even militantly anti-religious.

There was no religious freedom in Communist Russia; the Nazis persecuted Catholics—as did the French, by the way, after their own revolution. (It should go without saying that the Nazis also tried to completely eradicate the Jews.)

A Final Review of The Ominous Parallels

Having recently finished reading The Ominous Parallels, I can now say that the book’s main premise is that the reason for Hitler’s rise to power was that in Weimar Germany even the so-called “Right”, the so-called “Conservatives”, had succumbed to what Thomas Sowell would call “The Vision of the Anointed” by accepting the philosophy of the times, which said that capitalism and individual freedom were evil.

The antidote, in Leonard Peikoff’s opinion, is the philosophy of Objectivism; he seems to think that neither Constitutional principles nor religion and morality can stop a civilization’s slide into statism and, in fact, blames religion for helping to cause this trend.

As I have said earlier, I don’t agree with his criticisms of Christianity, preferring instead to believe that the animating principles of Christianity are responsible for the rise of Western civilization in the first place and, if followed, will allow Western civilization to continue to prevail.

A Partial Review of The Ominous Parallels

As you can tell from many of my recent blog posts, I’ve found a lot about The Ominous Parallels, by Leonard Peikoff, that’s made sense. I don't agree with his criticisms, in Chapter 5 especially, of Christianity, though, and recommend How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization and The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success for an alternate perspective.

Luke 2:1-20

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.