The Coming Christian Holocaust?

Wow. You just have to see this unbelievable screed in the Worldnutdaily by Erik Rush. He actually says that those who deny the trumped up "War on Christmas" are just like those who deny the holocaust. Seriously, he does. With a straight face, presumably.

There are, as the reader may well know, individuals who believe that the Nazi Holocaust that occurred during World War II - and which led to the deaths of millions of Jews and eastern Europeans - never occurred at all ... the death camps were movie sets, and the newsreel footage was staged by American generals to demonize the defeated Nazis and engender unwarranted sympathy for those who died, particularly Jews. The reason behind this is usually said to be the "worldwide Zionist conspiracy" to somehow "control the world."

Those who believe this are generally regarded by the majority of people (at least in the West) to be dangerously deluded, if not outright evil. American Nazis and other white supremacists who proffer these arguments in particular are believed to operate at a moral and philosophical level so ignoble as to relegate them to continued vigilant scrutiny, but little more.

Yet the incremental attainment of power on the part of the Nazis in Germany, their duplicity and their denials during their early days parallels the actions of the Left in recent years to a chilling degree, particularly concerning their vociferous denials with respect to attacks on Christianity.

Ah, I see. Despite the fact that the American populace is over 80% Christian, that Christianity is the default belief of virtually everyone here, that well over 90% of all elected officials are Christian, today's Christians are, like the Jews in Germany in the early days of Hitler, about to be thrown into the ovens and only those who favor such a policy would dare to deny it. This isn't merely ridiculous, it's downright obscene. The holocaust was one of the most evil events in the history of humankind. To compare the suffering of the Jews and the magnitude of that crime to havnig a court occasionally tell you that you can't monopolize the public square is the height of irrationality. Even more ridiculous is how he supports this charge.

Washington Post Staff Writer Dana Milbank, in an article published on Dec. 24, said: "Many of the conservative Christian groups that led the fight this year to ban same-sex marriage are sounding an alarm about efforts to block Christmas celebrations." I think it noteworthy that Milbank draws a parallel between traditionalists' objection to same-sex marriage and the attacks on their religion - in effect, she validates conservatives' arguments that these are agenda-driven acts. "Whether the threat is real or a straw man, conservatives have been aggressive this season in citing the danger to Christmas."

First of all, Erik, Dana Milbank is a he, not a she. Second of all, how absurd is it to claim that Milbank "validates" the "war on Christianity" claims when he prefaces his statement with "whether the threat is real or a straw man"? The fact that you and your pals claim that there is a Fifth Reich aimed at Christians doesn't make it so.

In his Dec. 9 Newsday column, "Peace for Christmas, or 'the holidays'" Ellis Henican declares: "OK, let me say this right up front so there will be no misunderstanding. There is no war on Christmas." So is he dull, deluded or complicit? With literally dozens of public controversies over the last few years over the names of cities, public seals bearing religious icons, "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, and lawsuits over Nativity scenes and Ten Commandments displays, what other intelligent conclusion can be drawn?

Well only one of those things has to do with Christmas, the battle over nativity scenes. Guess how many lawsuits the ACLU filed over nativity scenes last year? Zero. Guess how many they've filed this year? One. But that one suit was on behalf of groups putting up Christmas displays on public property and against a county requirement that they have incredibly expensive insurance. And they won. And none of those things have anything to do with a war against Christianity. The staunch separationists are not battling against Christianity but against official government endorsements of Christianity. When it comes to free exercise, the same groups Rush and his ilk are busy villifying expend a great deal of effort defending the rights of Christians.

But no, they say: You see, this backlash against the "attack on religion and Christmas" thing is just a fabrication of a handful of right-wing zealots, inflammatory news commentators and radio talk-show hosts - not the 85-plus percent Americans who identify themselves as Christians and see their faith being driven back to first-century, almost criminal status.

I love the logic here. 85% of Americans are Christians...therefore, 85% of Americans see their faith being given "almost criminal status". What nonsense. Those 85% of Americans are entirely free to worship as they choose. They can go to any of the tens of thousands of Christian churches in America, read any of the thousands of Christian magazines and newspapers, or listen to the hundreds and hundreds of Christian television and radio stations. They are free to form bible studies and prayer groups and even free to use public facilities for their meetings.

But just because 85% of the country is Christian doesn't mean that they're all deluded enough to believe the crap that Rush is shoveling out, clearly conflating attempts to get rid of government endorsement of Christianity with attempts to get rid of Christianity itself. Does Rush seriously believe that Christianity will collapse if the government doesn't put up nativity displays on the courthouse lawn? Is Christianity so fragile that it requires tax money to support it in order to remain viable? If so, perhaps it's time you reconsidered its validity.

To me, that sounds a lot like the pre-World War II assertions that the Jews were the name of Germany's pain and the postwar contention that the Holocaust was a Zionist fabrication.

Hitler himself declared decades before he was able to actualize his monstrous programs precisely what he intended to do, as many of America's enemies, at home and abroad, are doing right now.

Such historical ignorance is staggering. What do you think is going to happen, Erik? Do you think that the military, who are overwhelmingly Christian, are going to round up all 250 million Christians in America and throw them into concentration camps...and then lock themselves in as well? The Jews were a minority in Germany and they were blamed for all its troubles. The Christians are the overwhelming majority in America and they're in charge of every single institution in the nation. If you really think that you're about to be herded into the showers and ovens, you are truly living a life of delusion.