It’s trendy this time of year to engage in or comment on the media-labeled “War against Christmas,” and I admit I get sucked into it all the time.
Me? I don’t matter, but there are others willing to open their wallets and pay large dollars to defend the season, but is the spending wise?
The Catholic League, upset over an anti- Christmas billboard at the New Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, threw a “counterpunch” at atheists with a billboard of their own on the New York side of the tunnel. The 26-by-24-foot billboard at Dyer Avenue and West 31st Street features a depiction of Joseph and Mary looking adoringly at baby Jesus with the message, “You know it’s real. This season, celebrate Jesus. Merry Christmas from the Catholic League.”
The sign is a direct response to a similar billboard erected last week above the New Jersey entrance to the tunnel by an organization called American Atheists, which also features a nativity scene but with an entirely different message, “You know it’s a myth. This season, celebrate reason.”
“We decided to counterpunch after a donor came forward seeking to challenge the anti-Christmas statement by American Atheists,” [William] Donohue explained on the organization’s website, and this is all well and good, but at what cost? Twenty grand, that’s at what cost.
American Atheists got what they wanted — attention. They got news coverage, and it should have been settled at that. The reason being is because the Catholic League also was interviewed in each news segment I saw, and they should have been happy with that — it made the American Atheists look small in this Christmas season.
Christ, Christmas and Christians are an easy target in this secular fight of “God is and God ain’t,” and the American Atheists know it. They would never dare put up Mohammad on a billboard and question Diwali and risk death threats or any slant against Hanukkah and the wrath of the Anti- Defamation Leagues. They are creedbaiters, and the Christmas season is the Super Bowl of Christian bashing.
Unfortunately, the Catholic League plucked down $20,000 and, in this time of year, it’s just my opinion that 20 large could have been better spent bringing people in from the cold, feeding families or providing toys for sick kids or kids who will go without any Christmas. The Catholic League can do what they want with their money. I don’t contribute to it nor am a member. It just seems this was an “I’m gonna one-up you” contest that didn’t need to be staged. Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah to all in this reading area.
Bruce Novozinsky
Upper Freehold