Season's Grievances

I'm sick and tired of all this politically correct "we'll say 'happy holidays' just in case some whiner is miffed because we don't know what he or she believes" crap. That's what it is. It's crap. I'm sick of department stores, restaurants, school choir programs and, well, just about everything being forced into a generic "Season's Greetings, Happy Holidays but by absolutely no means Merry Christmas" way of operating.

I have several issues with all of this, some of which I will begin to address.

1) Whininess=suckiness. For some reason, America is terrified of whiny people. CEOs to superintendents are afraid- and not because someone may be offended, but because they don't want to see any negative publicity coming from the mouth of a thin-skinned, thick-headed moron. Why do we give so much significance to the views of these people, who I argue are really the insensitive ones?

2) Why should someone be offended by my wishing them a Merry Christmas? If someone wished me a Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, whatever- who cares? I don't celebrate those things, but "Hey, thanks for wishing me happiness."

3) The First Amendment is on my side, so a big, fat, "na na na na na, get over yourselves" to the whiners.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Now, store/restaurant/business policies are certainly different than a Congress-created law, so they REALLY don't have anything to worry about. They'll never lose a lawsuit brought against them for wishing someone a Merry Christmas.

School programs, yes, are a different story. As public institutions, legally they do have to be more careful. An arm of the government cannot establish a religion. For example's sake, I'll use a school choir concert; all the time you hear about school concerts being so watered down that they sing "Chicken Fat" instead of "Jingle Bells." No, not kidding. Now, students should not be forced to sing songs that they have religious differences with. I cannot expect a muslim student to want to sing about Jesus Christ any more than I would want to sing about Mohammed. But think about all the times there must have been when content has been censored even though there wasn't even an issue. Furthermore, the way the First Amendment is written, we are given a positive freedom- that is, we have a freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. In this country, no matter what your faith is, you have the right to practice it freely. Unfortunately, because some people are oversensitive, Christmas is becoming taboo and we don't get to exercise our faith freely.

Thankfully, we can have peace knowing that one day we'll all really understand what it means that God came to earth as a baby to bring salvation to all who call on Him.

You acted like jerks. Thanks for proving them right.

I was less than surprised to hear about the happenings of Palmerfest '09 here in Athens, Ohio. What is yearly a day for mass alcohol consumption got way out of hand as thousands of OU students lived up to our less than stellar reputation.

Color me old fashioned, but I'm disgusted by what went on. Setting fires like a bunch of mindless slugs… Assaulting police officers and horses with beer bottles and cans…

Some people will complain about the use of force by Athens and OU Police; I think they would have been justified to use a whole lot more. This was not a case of civil disobedience, or even protest. It was a case of irresponsible, reckless consumption of alcohol gone terribly wrong. There’s a pretty awesome video on YouTube of a mounted officer plowing into a drunken antagonizer.

My heart hurts for how lost so many on this campus clearly are. As deplorable as the events of Palmerfest ’09 were, sin is sin and it shows just how much we all need God’s grace.

The Post's coverage of Palmerfest.

April showers bring fire and brimstone

'Tis the season...

The swine flu has been getting people fired up across the world. Some here at Ohio University have found another reason to freak out- the open-air preachers!

They come every spring, yelling about hellfire, homosexuality, drunkenness and fornication (among a host of other sins) and commanding repentance. Every spring they are met with students yelling right back at them.

I'm convinced that a lot of the people who stop to listen to these guys are searching only for an argument. They fire questions at him with no interest in an answer. They are more concerned with making noise. The thing is, no matter how much either side yells at the other, no one's mind is getting changed. The "sinners," as the preachers less than affectionately call them, are put on the defensive and will not react with repentance and the preachers, if they have an authentic faith in Christ, will not be swayed from their beliefs.

True, Christ is being preached, but I seriously question the effectiveness of their evangelism. "You watch Hollywood movies, you're going to Hell" is probably not the best way to lead people to a saving faith in Christ. I'm just sayin'...

Something that gets me is that even when these guys preach about grace, they sound so angry. How can you be angry when you're talking about grace?!?

Colossians 4:5-7 says, "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your words be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Salt is used to season food, to make it taste better, right? I think these guys could use their salt much more effectively.