Anti-Catholic art is offensive any time of the year, but it is doubly so when it occurs at Christmastime. The Art Center of Corpus Christi was the venue this December of the K-Space exhibit, a collection of pieces representing the work of artists from K-Space Arts Studio in this Texas city. Included was “an acrylic painting showing the womb of a nude virgin mother, who’s holding a crucifix linked by rosary beads to the unborn son’s umbilical supply”; a painting that “appears like a black and white version of the Last Supper,” but is really a man “wearing a costume, eating dinner with rats”; a painting that “shows men, dressed in different costumes, one as a member of the Vatican, all drinking from a keg of beer”; and a drawing called “Communion” that “depicts three people, all completely naked, holding hands.”

Jessica Delfino took her “Merry S–tmas Tour” on the road. Described as “rife with Christmas-themed debauchery,” Delfino presented her shows around the country, including New York City, Washington, D.C. and South Durham, North Carolina. Delfino says she was raised as a Catholic, but this was not evident in her act. Her performance included the showing of an obscenely titled video banned from YouTube that features her rapping about her vagina, complete with obscene pictures flashing in the background. Rapping about her genitals, she sings, “it will become your true religion.”

None of this was without malice. And at a time when radical Muslims are accusing Americans of harboring a depraved understanding of liberty, it only provides ammunition to the enemy.

The following attacks on crèches came to our attention this Christmas season:

Figures from nativity scenes were stolen or vandalized in Tucson, AZ; Blue Lake, CA; Millbrae, CA; Mission Viejo, CA; Moorpark, CA; San Francisco, CA; Vista, CA; Naugatuck, CT; Southington, CT; Stratford, CT; Waterbury, CT (Jesus was taken, but one of the arms was left behind); Beverly Hills, FL; Fort Walton Beach, FL; Wellington, FL; Des Moines, IA; Newell, IA; Sioux City, IA; Ammon, ID; Chicago, IL (32 figures of baby Jesus were nabbed—they were later dumped on the lawn of a Catholic church); Jackson County, IL (two incidents); Tinley Park, IL; Floyd County, IN; Fort Wayne, IN; Montgomery County, IN; Portage, IN; Wichita, KS; Hardin, KY; Lafayette, LA (two incidents); Youngsville, LA; Fitchburg, MA; Hopkinton, MA; Norwell, MA; Southborough, MA; Portland, ME; Unity, ME; Winthrop, ME; Portage Township, MI; Neosho, MO; Fayettville, NC; New Bern, NC; Raleigh, NC; Columbus, NE (12 baby Jesus figures were stolen in one day); Plaistow, NH; Hopewell Junction, NY; Rockland County, NY; Dover, OH; Utica, OH (three incidents); Artemis, PA; Bucks County, PA; Greenfield, PA; Hilton Head, SC; Sioux Falls, SD; Halom City, TX; Santa Fe, TX; Salt Lake City, UT; Whidbey Island, WA; Stevens Point, WI; West Allis, WI; and Winfield, WV.

Some of these attacks were clearly motivated by malice. The baby Jesus figure stolen in Plaistow, NH was later returned, having been defiled by a pair of devil horns. The hooligan who stole the manger from Southborough, MA left the surrounding secular decorations standing. In Sioux Falls, SD, someone crushed the face of the statue of Jesus. What’s worse, the creep in Des Moines, IA burned Jesus’ face, doused the statue with red nail polish, and twisted the electrical cord around its neck. The incident in Kansas occurred outside the clinic of late-term abortionist George Tiller. After a member of a pro-life group placed the crèche on a public strip of land, one of Tiller’s employees deemed it “offensive” and moved it behind a fence on the clinic’s property where it would no longer be visible.

The Washington Post published Bill Donohue’s letter on December 30: “Harold Meyerson (‘Episcopalians Against Equality,’ December 20) quipped, ‘John Paul also sought to build his church in nations of the developing world where traditional morality and bigotry, most especially on matters sexual, were in greater supply than in secular Europe and the increasingly egalitarian United States, and more in sync with the Catholic Church’s inimitable backwardness.’

“This smacks of elitism, anti-Catholicism and racism.”

This reminds us of what Rev. Andrew Greeley recently said when asked about the growth of the Catholic population in South America and Africa. “We will depend on them for vitality. But they will continue to depend on us for ideas.”

Both men have it wrong—the ideas of the Europeans are spent.

On December 7, Bill Donohue and Don Feder, president of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation, launched a “Why I Hate Christmas” contest. Donohue explained as follows:

On December 6, a Zogby Poll disclosed that 95 percent of Americans are not offended by being greeted with a “Merry Christmas” while shopping. Don Feder and I would like to know more about the 5 percent who object and have thus launched our “Why I Hate Christmas” contest. Contestants must answer the following questions:

1. Explain relationship with father
2. Explain relationship with mother
3. State what religion, if any, were you raised in
4. List all phobias, e.g., fear of God
5. List all superstitions, e.g., belief in global warming
6. State which historical figure is most like you:

(a) Hitler   (b) Stalin   (c) Mao   (d) Pol Pot   (e) Rosie O’Donnell
7. State last time you hallucinated
8. State last book you read before crashing
9. State how many times you’ve laughed in the past 10 years:
(a) once     (b) more than once but not more than thrice
(c) more than thrice but not more than five times    (d) can’t recall
10. List all prior mental disorders

Please send us a photo so we can post your picture on our website, along with your response. The winner will receive a free copy of the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. Finally, we will send your statement to Jackie Mason for a free psychological evaluation.

According to a story in the Rocky Mountain News, a state audit released last year barred the University of Colorado from holding Christmas parties; the university notified all employees that a “holiday party is no longer sole justification for an allowable university event.” According to Bronson Hillard, spokesman for the university, “What matters the most is the reason for the party.” There can be a staff appreciation party, he said, “but the motivation cannot be the holiday itself.” Hillard did not say what techniques the university possesses to police motivation.

We were curious about this so we decided to contact Sally Symanski, the state auditor. She referred us to the State of Colorado Fiscal Rule 2-7 that says state monies can only be spent for official functions. As we expected, there is absolutely no mention of any Christmas or holiday party in 2-7. When asked what statute or court decision the audit was leaning on to ban Christmas parties, we were told to speak to Mary Catherine Gaisbauer in the controller’s office of the university.

Gaisbauer told us that holiday parties are no longer allowed, but holiday-themed parties were okay so long as they met the criteria for an official function. We were still perplexed: “goodwill functions” are explicitly recognized as constituting an official function. Upon further questioning, she directed us to Recommendation #15 of the state audit. But Recommendation #15 says not a word about parties, Christmas or otherwise; it deals with procurement practices.

In other words, there is no statute or court decision that mandates censoring Christmas parties; the state audit is equally silent on this matter. What we have is a clear case of bureaucratic overkill and political correctness run amok.

The secular crusaders who want to neuter Christmas say ad nauseam that the reason why we have to give more attention to holidays other than Christmas is due to the increasingly diverse composition of our nation and the world. But it is a hoax: the evidence is just the opposite.

The United States now has more Christians than any other nation in history, according to professor Stephen Prothero of Boston University (Christian Science Monitor, 12-23-03). “In terms of religious background,” writes Dinesh D’Souza, scholar at the Hoover Institution, “America is no more diverse today than it was in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries” (The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11). Indeed, Penn State professor Philip Jenkins maintains that the U.S. is becoming more Christian (The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity). As for the world’s religious population, we are also becoming less diverse: in 1900, 50 percent of the world was either Catholic, Protestant, Muslim or Hindu; in 2000, these groups constituted 64 percent, in 2025 they are projected to make up 70 percent (Shah and Duffy, “Why God is Winning,” Foreign Policy, 7-1-06).

Hanukkah, which is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, is not being celebrated today more than ever before because there are more Jews in America: in fact, only one percent of America is Jewish (Newsweek, 9-5-05); in 1955, the figure was four percent (Will Herberg, Protestant, Catholic, Jew). Nor are we celebrating Kwanzaa more than ever before as a result of African Americans rallying to this African holiday: only two percent of Americans, or about 15 percent of blacks, celebrate the holiday (Fox News Poll, 12-9-03). Moreover Kwanzaa has nothing to do with Africa—it was invented in 1966 by an ex-con.

The diversity hoax is being sold as a rationale to nullify Christmas. It’s also because the multicultural industry is big business.

One of the basic mantras of multiculturalism is that all peoples and all cultures are essentially the same. But if this were true, then how does one explain how the media portrayed Muslims during the week Pope Benedict XVI visited Turkey?

· NPR, 11-26: “Should the pope pray, make the sign of the cross or get down on his knees while there, he’s likely to further anger Turkish Muslims….”

· New York Times, 11-28: “But on this trip, any mention too specific about religious freedom holds the danger of offending Turkey.”

· AP, 11-28: “It [Haghia Sophia] is now a museum, and Turks would take offense at any religious gesture by the pontiff….”

· AP, 11-28: “Benedict also said guarantees of religious freedom are essential for a just society, comments that risked bringing the Vatican into conflict with some Islamic nations that allow only Muslims to worship or impose restrictions on religious minorities.”

· Daily News (NY), 11-29: “Pope Benedict began a sensitive trip to Turkey yesterday seeking to ease Muslim concerns, but risked stoking more anger by urging religious leaders to ‘utterly refuse’ to back violence in the name of faith.”

The subtext of these statements is that Muslims are not like the rest of us. After all, can anyone imagine Jews getting angry at the pope for making the sign of the cross while in Israel? Moreover, why is it that the mere mention of religious liberty is likely to offend? What kind of people are they, anyway? And who, other than Muslims, would actually get angry if the leader of some other religion were to say that killing in the name of God is wrong? What does this say about their religion?

If this is all it takes to anger Muslims—in addition to cartoons they don’t like—then we’re all in big trouble. It’s time we started asking the tough questions.

Michael Richards gets heckled, unleashes a racist tirade, gets blasted by the cultural elite and apologizes. A drunk Mel Gibson makes anti-Semitic remarks, gets blasted by the cultural elite, and apologizes. An un-provoked Penn Jillette unleashes an anti-Catholic tirade, the cultural elite gives him a free pass, and he doesn’t apologize.

Jillette made statements about Mother Teresa, saying she had a “weird kink” he thinks was sexual, and compared her to Charles Manson. He also branded her “Mother F—ing Teresa.”

The message here is that racism and anti-Semitism are unacceptable. But anti-Catholicism is okay. The problem here is not with Richards, Gibson or Jillette—it’s with all those phonies who claim to be horrified by bigotry.

Every year the Sanfordville PTA in Warwick, New York does a fundraiser involving Santa at the local elementary school. Called “Breakfast with Santa,” it draws hundreds of kids on a Saturday, all of whom come voluntarily. But because one anonymous bigot objected this past Christmas—citing religious discrimination—the event was reworked by school lawyers: instead the PTA hosted a “Winter Wonderland Breakfast.” Moreover, Santa had a partner: Frosty the Snowman was ordered to join him.

The bigot, of course, wanted no compromise and wanted Santa removed altogether. According to Darlene Baratto, who was in charge of the event, “We have a beautiful background people can have a picture in front of. That wasn’t good enough. We changed the name, colors, the background. Nothing made her happy. She was not open to anything. We’ll have 300 or so kids who are disappointed.” School superintendent Dr. Frank Greenhall, attempting to be the voice of reason, reassured everyone when he said, “If you make it an issue, the kids will make it an issue.” Now how’s that for leadership? Just shut up and don’t tell the kids why “Breakfast with Santa” has been censored and they won’t know the difference.

There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution, of course, that bans “Breakfast with Santa” from taking place in a public school. This has nothing to do with the law—it has everything to do with bowing to the pressure of bigots. This is the new utilitarianism: the greatest good for the least number of people. And it is just as immoral as its parent principle—the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

At Missouri State University, the Office of Multicultural Student Services did not list Christmas as part of its December celebrations: but it did list Kwanzaa, which, unfortunately, they think is spelled Kwanza. They celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month from mid-September to mid-October; October is Gay and Lesbian Month; and Native American Heritage Month captures November. But no Christmas—just “Kwanza.”

At SUNY Buffalo, they held a Holiday Carnival, which included “a Hanukkah table, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day [this is a Canadian holiday], St. Nick’s Day and Kings Day.” There were also red and green cookies for the nostalgic, and chicken was served at the Kwanzaa table.

At Delaware College of Art and Design they believe in diversity so much that “to help set the holiday mood,” according to Lynda Schmid, director of admissions, “students make multisided solids based out of various materials, including paper and copper.” Sounds like a ball.

Penn State was clearly the most sensitive campus this season. Patreese Ingram has a title that is just perfect for censoring Christmas: she is an Associate Professor of Diversity Education. She cautioned that we need to be careful when planning a holiday party. For example, “Try to avoid dates that may conflict with important dates in other cultures and religions.” Also, “Try to keep decorations neutral, with symbols—flowers, balloons, candles and snowflakes—that can be enjoyed by most people.” Best of all is her advice about eating and drinking: Remember, she said, “Pork is forbidden for Jewish and Muslim people. Shellfish is prohibited for Jewish people and beef is not eaten by Hindus. While coffee, tea and caffeinated soda may seem ‘safe,’ members of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and Seventh-Day Adventists are prohibited from consuming caffeine. Therefore, juice may be an acceptable choice.”

We have a better idea. Why not just start the academic year one month earlier and cancel December? Either that or spike the juice with some vodka.