Happy Pearl Harbor Day!

Today's WaPo gives a perfect example of how the right just spits out numbers instead of facts:

This month, as in every December since he took office, President Bush sent out cards with a generic end-of-the-year message, wishing 1.4 million of his close friends and supporters a happy "holiday season."

"This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

"Ninety-six percent of Americans celebrate Christmas," Donohue said. "Spare me the diversity lecture."

According to the CIA World Fact Book, the United States religious demographic breakdown is: Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, other 10%, none 10% (2002 est.) Now, the mathematics I learned says 52+24=76. Maybe in those schools who teach that "Slavery, which most historians look at politically or economically, is seen as "an excellent example of the far-reaching consequences of sin," 52+24=96, but in the real world, that just is not the case.

I think we should all get together and send Hanukkah cards to this Donohue guy. Please send your cards to:

William A. Donohue
President
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
450 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10123
cl@catholicleague.org

At least we've eradicated poverty, found a cure for cancer, made world peace, and stopped global warming so we can worry about petty things like this.


Update: A comment I left on a blog who had a post entitled "Freedom of Religion, Unless It's Christianity." If you can't tell, I am a little pissy when it comes to this whole "Christians are persecuted" nonsense.

This is bullshit. How many times have you been denied something because you are a Christian? Have you been prevented from worshipping? Do you have to hold services in a back room to hide from the government? Are you arrested and detained without trial or lawyer for years at a time because you happen to be Christian? You need to stop listening to the propaganda and start thinking for yourselves. You people are making a big deal over absolutely nothing, to the point where you are deluding yourselves into thinking you are being persecuted, and people like Bill O'Reilly are not helping. Taking a small, meaningless case and blowing it out of proportion is just causing you unnecessary stress. Open your eyes. In your town, has their been an Eid festival recently? Doubtful. Is there a Nativity scene on your courthouse lawn? I'm willing to bet the answer is yes.

In the cities of the US, there is much more diversity than the little towns of the Midwest or the South. People from small towns seem to not understand this. In some cities like Detroit, the Muslim population approaches a quarter of the town's population. Would you send a Christmas card to your Jewish friends? Do you even know any Jewish people? Do you think that all people who wear turbans are Muslims? (Arab Muslims don't even wear turbans, so it just shows ignorance when people think they do.)

As for your 85% figure, it is wrong. 76% of this country identifies themselves as Christian (with the largest denomination being us evil Catholics!,) and only 40% of those attend church on a regular basis. You really need to look beyond your little world and stop making judgments based on your narrow world view. Open a book for once. Try reading about what the Chinese do to Christian citizens who worship outside of the state sanctioned church. THAT is persecution. How about the Christians in Sudan who are being slaughtered? THAT is persecution. The Christians who were sent to die in Siberian prison camps during the Soviet era were persecuted. People throughout history have been murdered for their religious beliefs. THAT IS PERSECUTION.

Look around you. You see Christmas junk everywhere. If Christians were persecuted, you would see none of that. You would see no pagan Christmas trees, no lights, no ribbons or bows or tinsel. Honestly, please come back to reality.

You take your freedom for granted, and that is shameful.

See also: Simple Frustration in Bushworld