By Judi McLeod
Friday, November 24, 2006
In an era where it's open season on Christianity, each year we edge a little closer to losing the true meaning of Christmas.
The tradition of Christmas is being pushed aside for those who prefer "Season's Greetings”, "Happy Holidays” to centuries-old ”Merry Christmas”. Politically correct motivated people have written a new lexicon for all things Christmas. Even the Christmas tree is called, in some areas, "The Holiday Tree”.
But Christmas 2006 seems to be a watershed year for marginalizing the celebration of Christmas as we have come to know it.
You don't have to be a Christian to celebrate Christmas. Many people of other faiths get caught up in its magic.
When the final chapter of Christmas has been written, the idea of Christmas will be packed away in the attic with the ornaments and strings of light, only this time never to reappear again. Tragically Christmas is ending where it began--in Bethlehem.
although, they have been doing their best to rewrite the script, we can't blame the death of Christmas on the aCLU.
In all corners of the world, Christians are fleeing Muslim-dominated countries.
"Call it a modern exodus, the steady flight of the Palestinian Christian minority that could lead, some predict, to the faith being virtually extinct in its birthplace within several generations—just one of many dwindling pockets of Christianity across the Islamic world.” (www.washingtontimes.com), Nov. 12, 2006).
"This will be a major theme the pope is expected to carry to Turkey for a four-day visit beginning Nov. 28—his first papal visit to a predominantly Muslim nation. The Vatican calls it "reciprocity”: Muslim demands for greater sensitivity from the West must be accompanied by stronger protections and rights for Christian minorities in Islamic strongholds.
No one can tell if the apostolic journey of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will meet with success.
Still one has to admire Benedict's intention, for it is only tolerance for the beliefs of others that will make the world a more peaceful place.
In the bygone era of 1941, another pontiff made a classic show of the healing that comes through tolerance in a true story that was only recently unearthed at the Vatican.
"Testimony has emerged revealing that, in 1941, Pope Pius XII received a German visitor at the Vatican who was seeking help for certain Jews who were being held in an Italian internment camp. (Inside the Vatican Magazine). "after welcoming the young man and promising him help, Pius told him not once but twice—in emotional language, in front of a large group that included German soldiers—"Be proud to be a Jew.”
"The amazing testimony, written as a first-hand account by an anonymous Jewish author in wartime Palestine, originally appeared on april 28, 1944 in "The Palestinian Post” (now "The Jerusalem Post”), the most influential Jewish publication in the world at that time.
"according to longtime "Inside the Vatican” contributor William Doino, who discovered the testimony in an archive, maintained by Tel aviv University, "the testimony has apparently been forgotten, because, as far as I know, no leading Holocaust authority or biographer of Pius XII has ever cited it.”
"as the article reports, the Jewish author attended a papal audience in the autumn of 1941. He entered the papal chamber along with numerous other people, including a group of German soldiers. (It was common for soldiers to visit the Pope early in the war era. Later, when Hitler learned of what the Pope told them, he put an end to this practice.)
"The author was the final individual to approach the Pope that day. He wanted to tell Pius about a group of Jews who were being interned by Italy's Fascist government on an island, in danger of starvation. He tried to speak in broken Italian, but the Pope invited him to use his native language, assuming that it would be German. "You are German, too, aren't you?” asked the Pope. The author then explained that he was born in Germany, but he was a Jew.
"Pius invited the author to finish his story. He listened intently then said: "You have done well to come to me and tell me this. I have heard it before. Come back tomorrow with a written report and give it to the Secretary of State who is dealing with the question. But now for you, my son. You are a young Jew. I know what that means and I hope you will always be proud to be a Jew!”
Pius then raised his voice so that everyone in the hall—including the German soldiers—could hear it and said (in a "pleasant voice”): "My son, whether you are worthier than others only the Lord knows, but believe me, you are at least as worthy as every other human being that lives on our earth! and now, my Jewish friend, go with the protection of the Lord, and never forget, you must always be proud to be a Jew!”
Decades later, communities in Iraq, Turkey and in other regions of the Middle East are trying to preserve land that dates back to the days when Jesus' first apostles preached.
That preservation leans as much on history as it does religion.
at the rate things are going, Bethlehem could be as much of a ghost town, as those lonely outposts in america's west where the only movement comes from windblown tumbleweeds, rather than the bustle of people.
Bethlehem as a virtual ghost town is millenniums away from the humble stable and the Babe in the Manger.
Meanwhile, politically correct anti-Christmas crusaders are in mission impossible mode. They may someday find success in forcing the concept of Christmas off the world radar screen, but they could never erase something so long ago etched on the human heart.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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