Catholic League president Bill Donohue explains how the anti-Christmas agenda has changed:

“There was no anti-Christmas agenda until the 1980s, and at that time it was led by the ACLU. The strategy of choice was to ban the display of religious symbols, especially the crèche, on public property. This legal strategy, which worked relatively well, has been superseded by a cultural strategy. The goal now is to dilute the significance of Christmas via contrived competition. To wit: every religious, racial and ethnic heritage—including invented ones like Kwanzaa—is now celebrated in December.

“It is important to note that the agenda is not a positive one; it is not designed to honor world traditions. No, the agenda is negative—it is designed to combat Christmas. Here’s a splendid example.

“Margaret Downey, founder of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia, sued Chester County in 2001 because a large Ten Commandments plaque was displayed at the Chester County Courthouse. After winding its way through the courts, Downey lost. Chester County, however, decided that the courthouse lawn should be open to all seasonal displays. The crèche and menorah were quickly displayed and now the lawn is adorned with Downey’s ‘Godless Holiday Tree’; it is decorated with the book covers of atheist tracts.

“True to her multicultural religion, Downey is not against all religions—it’s just Christianity that gets her goat. ‘We’d love to see Kwanzaa candles and a Buddha statue, too,’ she said. Buddha is okay because it represents an Eastern religion (Western religions are taboo).

“It’s not just Downey and her merry band of atheists who ascribe to the contrived competition strategy. Elementary school teachers in New Jersey informed officials at William Paterson University that they would not take their students to a holiday show if it just centered on Christmas. They won. The moral of the story is: Best to throw the Nothought Scrooges a bone if the kids are to see Santa.”

On December 10, the French will submit to the U.N. General Assembly a declaration in support of decriminalizing homosexuality. The Vatican opposes the declaration on the grounds that some of its wording could be construed to impose gay marriage in law. The reaction among gay activists has been hysterical. Here are some examples:

· The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says the Vatican “brushed off accusations of supporting violence against gay[s]”
· The Rainbow Sash Movement says the pope is “the Catholic General leading the dirty war” on gays
· Arcigay, an Italian gay rights group, accuses the Vatican of saying “That it is normal to kill a homosexual”
· Peter Tatchell, an English activist, says “The Holy See is so viciously homophobic” that it won’t oppose “the murder” of gays
· A San Francisco “alternative” media outlet, beyondchron, opines that the “Vatican Doesn’t Care About Execution of Gays”
· The bigqueer blog says “the Vatican doesn’t think that we should stop persecuting, or let’s just say, killing, GLBT people”
· daddydanforth blog has a piece entitled “Vatican Thinks LGBTQ Are Criminals”
· ozwayssomething accuses the Vatican of “condoning those countries that impose the death penalty upon homosexuals”
· “Catholic Church Opposes U.N. Resolution to Stop Homosexual Executions” is the headline on lesbianofcolornews
· The National Secular Society has a story on “Vatican Would Rather Gay People Were Executed Than Married”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

“In addition to these slanderous remarks, three dissident Catholic groups have condemned the Vatican: Dignity, Call to Action and News Ways Ministry. An anti-Catholic group, Catholics for Choice, has predictably chimed in. Moreover, vigils will be held on Dec. 10 outside some Catholic churches.  All the above have maliciously distorted the Vatican’s position.”

Here is a sample of how diversity is being celebrated this December:

· Elementary school students in Plainfield, Illinois are decorating a “Holiday” tree that represents 18 countries.
· A “Holiday Revelry” will be performed at the Framingham Civic League in Massachusetts; it is a “multicultural” event that includes “PAC Sword Dancers” and “traditional” Christmas songs such as “Pat-A-Pan.”
· “Winter Traditions” will be celebrated at the Fort Collins Museum in Colorado. They include “Celebrations of Light” that highlight “traditions, cultures and celebrations from across the world.”
· At a high school in Ocean City, Maryland, the annual “Winter Concert” this year will feature a performance entitled “Eid Mubarak,” a Muslim holiday song.
· At the Comcast Center in Philadelphia there will be a huge “Multimedia Holiday Show” featuring secular songs. Religious Christmas songs are expressly prohibited.
· At Missouri State University, a new school rule explicitly bans the menorah and the nativity scene from being displayed in common areas. Nonetheless, the menorah is displayed; the crèche is not.
· At an architectural firm in Wichita, Kansas there will be no Christmas party. But there will be a party. The CEO says, “we call our December party a holiday party.”

Darby Herrington, a Colorado lawyer, wrote a column defending these kinds of things. According to her, “People of other religions tend to harbor some ill feelings toward all things Christmas.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue offered his thoughts:

“Cultural fascists invoke ‘diversity’ every December as cover for neutering Christmas—they never choose some other month to practice their multicultural religion. And by the way, who are these people from other religions who hate Christmas? I never met one. It would be more accurate to say that it’s precisely the persons who make this charge who hate Christmas.”

On December 10, the French will submit to the U.N. General Assembly a non-binding declaration that would decriminalize homosexuality. The Vatican is opposed to the document, citing its concerns over language that could impose same-sex marriage in law.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue defends the Vatican decision:

“The Vatican’s critics are already going ballistic over its opposition to the U.N. declaration. Italian newspapers have branded the Catholic Church’s position ‘total idiocy and madness,’ accusing it of being ‘obsessed with sin.’ Amnesty International has weighed in against the Vatican and Timemagazine has branded Pope Benedict XVI ‘Scrooge’ for resisting the French declaration. All of these boilerplate comments are off-base.

“Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the U.N., has made it clear that the problem with the document is not that it seeks to protect homosexuals from being persecuted—the Church is obviously opposed to any such behavior—but that it opens the door to sanctioning gay marriage. His concerns are real: gay activists in support of the declaration have already said that this is the first step towards a binding U.N. resolution. And the problem with that is that it would ineluctably grease the slide towards gay marriage. As anyone who has seriously followed the gay rights movement knows, this is not a matter of conjecture—it is part of the gay agenda.

“Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, also spoke to this issue. ‘Obviously, no one wants to defend the death penalty for homosexuals, as some would insinuate,’ he said. He cited the principles embodied in the Catholic Catechism as excluding ‘not only the death penalty, but all violent or discriminatory penal legislations in relation to homosexuals.’ What Lombardi wants, justly so, is to maintain the ‘privileged place’ of marriage as being between a man and a woman.

“It’s time to call the Vatican’s critics’ bluff: Let them first pass a binding resolution against gay marriage before considering the French proposal.”