First of all, let me say that I think everyone can and should celebrate their holidays however they want. Go nuts.

Second, to me, Christmas is a secular holiday. Rudolf, Santa, Christmas trees and Christmas lights, presents — all of it is fun stuff for children and adults alike and it has largely nothing to do with Christ. Even when I was a devote Christian (ok, maybe “devote” is a bit of an over-statement) I did not really associate Christmas with Christ. Even then I saw it as a bunch of mythology. Humans have celebrated the return of the sun for millennia. Traditions where you get together with family are fun whatever the reason.

Like I said, if Christmas is some big, profound religious holiday for you, fine, great, whatever. For most of us, it’s not. It’s secular.

I don’t believe in Christ, but I take no offense if people say Merry Christmas or have Christmas trees or any of that crap. I think most non-Christians have no problem with any of that. So the so-called war on christmas is a non-issue, in my opinion.

In fact, I think the secularization of Christmas is a good thing. Who says you can’t put little colored lights on your house if you are a pagan, a Jew or an atheist? In fact, I have a Christmas tree and little colors lights on my house this year because my son thinks they are pretty.

So Christians, go nuts. Merry Christmas us until you are blue in the face. The rest of us, enjoy yourself in whatever manner you choose. To me, it’s all about the pretty little colors lights.

You don’t have to be Christian to acknowledge that the Bible is the source of America’s values…America derives its laws from its Constitution. It derives its values from the Bible.

That’s our retarded friend Dennis Prager again.

This is completely false. For some reason, Christians and Jews like to believe that is the case. It’s not. The Bible is full of all sorts of stuff, some of which is the antithesis of American values. Some of it is in accordance with American values. You can basically get the Bible to agree with anything you want if you look hard enough.

I agree that historically speaking, our founders were theists. I also believe that they could foresee the troubles that were unavoidable if the government they formed was denominational.

America is made up of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindu, atheists and lots of other ideological bents. It is not helpful nor correct to claim that Christians and Jews embody the moral basis for America.

We live in a secular country. This was a brilliant idea by our founders. We shouldn’t let guys like Pranger trick us into thinking otherwise. I am a moral person and my values are shared by most Americans. I do not believe in the Bible. This is not a contradiction.

How ’bout giving America and Americans the benefit of the doubt for once?

Why indeed. Here’s a few thoughts.

1. A healthy suspicion of government is a good thing. Governments need watchdogs and skeptics. Absolutely they do. Such skepticism is not un-American.

2. A healthy concern for minorities of all types is a good thing.

3. We can’t go around saying we are the greatest country in the world unless we are humble, contrite and self-deprecating. We have to actually BE the greatest country in the world. That means we have to set examples of moral behavior and fairness. We have to take the interests of others into account.

For some reason the Right, which historically has a healthy suspicion of government, loses that as soon as their guys are in power. Only now are we seeing the Right get critical of Bush and co.

For some reason the Right thinks we can selfishly defend our best interests, ignoring the best interest of others and yet cry foul when others do the same (e.g. France).

For some reason the Right will stubbornly be on “America’s side” even when America is wrong. For example, the world now perceives us as a country willing to torture people.

Finally, the Left is concerned with what Thomas Jefferson called the tyranny of the majority. Majorities can run amock. That is my concern, for example, with this whole business about the Bible. Yes, a majority of Americans are Christian. That does not mean we are a Christian country when it comes to our laws or who can represent us in public office.

So I think the Left wants to make the country better and the Right is willing to let us slide on a lot of shit.

Lest anyone think I’m taking sides, I don’t think our congress men and women should put their hand on any religious book when they are sworn in. Or, to take a step back, they can put their hand on any book they want when they are sworn in.

But this retarded opinion is moronic and un-American. America, my friends, does not have a state religion. In fact we put it in our god damn constitution that it is illegal to have a state religion.

Prager says:

Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.

Fuck him. Only Christians and Jews are allowed to serve in Congress? Fuck him. You better go brush up on the Constitution of the United States of America. I think the Koran is just as dumb as the Bible, but I believe in religious freedom, unlike much of the radical right wing.

There was a very interesting segment on Democracy Now! about this story. Amy Goodman interviews two of the men involved. While it is just one side of the story, it is pretty darn compelling. I think this was fear and paranoia in action.

I do understand that fear and paranoia may be high on airplanes right now. The major injustice that US Airways committed was to not fly these guys after the FBI had cleared them after 5 hours of interviewing them. I do blame the paranoid passengers, too, though. I think people incorrectly equate terrorism with Islam. As usual, I am surprised that atheists like me are the ones standing up for these guys. You know the crazy left, all obsessed with civil liberties and shit.