Who’s Waging the War on Christmas?

It’s December, which means it’s time for the annual War on Christmas™, in which the latest volley was fired by Albert Mohler in a column about a comment of Richard Dawkins’s in which he said that he intends to celebrate Christmas like any normal Englishman who happens to like decorated trees and getting together with friends and family.

We can only wonder which Christmas carols are Richard Dawkins’ favorites. The sight of an avowed atheist joining in the Christmas chorus is a bit hard to imagine. At the same time, there is something comforting about the idea that even the world’s most famous atheist will move his lips to the songs that celebrate Christ’s birth.

Mohler’s obviously limited imagination must be challenged all the time by people mouthing words that they know to be untrue or impossible, like carolers singing Frosty the Snowman, performers in Wagnerian operas full of Germanic gods, or Dana Perino defending Dubya’s latest blunder.

But let’s take a look at what Christmas is today, and how it got to be that way.

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Further Thoughts on Musical Evo-Devo

I keep thinking off and on about writing a program to apply evo-devo to musical composition (part 2 ). There are tons of problems to solve, of course, but I may have made some progress.

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Religion and Sex

Evangelicals like to tell us that sex should take place within the confines of marriage, and only for purposes of procreation. But in fact, the situation is much more complex. In his book Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe (1987), James A. Brundage compiled a list of various restrictions on sex from religious sources, and put them together in this handy flowchart (click to embiggen):
Flowchart

(Thanks to for the pointer.)

Schism!

Well, it finally happened: the diocese of San Joaqin has split off from the Episcopal church, over a question of whether women and gays are human enough to hold high rank in the church.

It does raise the question, though, of why they didn’t just ask God what he thinks.

The Golden Compass

I just saw the Golden Compass movie. I agree with PZ when he says that you’re going to be seeing the word “disappointing” in a lot of reviews.

Mild spoilers after the jump.

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Atheism-Friendly Editorial in the Post

In the wake of Mitt Romney’s speech, the Washington Post has an editorial that makes some of the same points that I did.

Where Mr. Romney most fell short, though, was in his failure to recognize that America is composed of citizens not only of different faiths but of no faith at all and that the genius of America is to treat them all with equal dignity. “Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom,” Mr. Romney said. But societies can be both secular and free. The magnificent cathedrals of Europe may be empty, as Mr. Romney said, but the democracies of Europe are thriving.

Mitt Romney Says Something Stupid. Again.

In other news, dog bites man.

From CNN:

“Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone,” he said.

What universe is he living in? I guess this means that Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan are among the freest countries on earth, freer than western Europe or North America. Oh, but those are Muslim countries, so they probably don’t count.

How about the Middle Ages, then, when pretty much all of Europe was fiercely Christian, of one stripe or another? Would it be worth pointing out that stuff like the great American experiment came up after that, after the Enlightenment had taught that hey, maybe we can do better on our own, without relying on a god? Would it be worth reminding Romney that Thomas Jefferson took a razor to his Bible in an effort to, in effect, improve upon the received Word of God?

Heck, has he forgotten that the very first amendment in the US bill of rights includes the right freedom from religion?

By the way, Mitt, this has nothing to do with you being a Mormon, and everything to do with you being a pious git.

Highway of Holiness

Light the Highway is a group of people who apparently think that I-35, which runs from Laredo, TX to Minneapolis, MN, is God’s chosen interstate, because Isaiah 35:8 reads:

And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.

(I-35, Isaiah 35. Get it?)

It’s unclear to me whether this is a Poe or not, but reading that site is like being beaten over the head with a stick made of frozen crazy.

OTOH, they may be onto something: the 495th line of Isaiah is 26:19, which reads:

But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.

which sounds a lot like I-495 (the Washington Beltway) to me.

(Tip o’ the tinfoil hat to Martin Wagner.)

Snow!

It doesn’t happen here very often this early in the season, but it’s currently snowing! See this artist’s rendition:

 

(Artist’s rendition may not be 100% accurate.)

This isn’t prairie winter, mind you: this is Washington area snow, the kind where even a quarter-inch is enough to close schools and send panicked citizens scurrying to buy up all remaining supplies of milk and toilet paper. There’ll be mile-long backups on the Beltway before this is over.

I’m glad to be sitting quietly in a warm office, and I think I’ll make some hot chocolate. Later, when it dies down, though… comes dealing with traffic, and morons who won’t go above 20 mph even though they’ve lived here all their life and it snows at least once every single year. At least it isn’t sticking to the roads.

(Yes, I’m gently poking fun at PZ. Pompous Minesotan. Who does he think he is, lording it over us with his weather?)

The Crossword War on Christianity

If you thought Bill Donohue’s knickers were in enough of a twist over The Golden Compass to tourniquet a combat battalion, think again:

Many fans of crosswords look forward to tackling the New York Times’ Sunday issue. Several enthusiasts contacted the Catholic League, however, to report that they were troubled by a question in yesterday’s puzzle. The work, titled “Putting on Some Weight,” featured several answers that contained the word “ton.” For instance, the clue “I’m not interested in having tea!” led to the answer, “DON’T GIVE ME ANY LIPTON.”

Puns are standard fare for crossword puzzles, but one example from yesterday’s game is a little too cute. The clue for Number 98 across asked “Crucifix?” The corresponding answer was “SEXTON SYMBOL.” Surely the authors of the puzzle, and the editors of the New York Times, would do well to avoid such cheekiness when it comes to the figure of Christ crucified.

I’d love to meet him sometime. There could be so much fun to be had in pushing his buttons.