First, let me wish all of you a Merry Christmas.
I want to clarify some things–about my calling Die Hard a “secularist’s” Christmas movie.
Let’s put aside for the moment that it is one of the top action films of all time and indulge my rant–a rant that has been building in me for the last several years.
You see I do not have a pundit’s platform nor do I even have the name recognition like some who, if they tweet on a plane, it becomes public knowledge. Oh, I have my fans and people who “get me,” but quite often as I wax on about things they go largely unnoticed.
I have written articles that are ahead of the curve by several years regarding policy and politics–some have embraced my ideas but I do not make my living at punditry, so I am an outsider like most of us who are watching this whole charade and wondering what is the problem.
Well, I will tell you–it is being gutless–it is the flaccid inability to engage. We have been goose-stepped into a “ball-less, neutered” society–sheep being led to the slaughter. Well I say, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
I have seen a systematic attack on Judeo-Christian values that our country was founded on. Yes, it is so!
Last year, a tradition that had taken place for 60 years in Santa Monica was taken down–the Nativity Scene. I held a candlelight vigil in protest. I called on folks to join me–one brave soul did, actor Adam Baldwin (no relation to Alec Baldwin).
So, the two of us stood there with umbrellas in the rain near the Statue of St. Monica. To show you how under the radar it was–we didn’t even make Bill O’Reilly’s Pinheads and Patriots segment. We did make the local news and paper. And thanks to some private citizens it was put up somewhere else.
Well, it was denied to be put up again this year because a few atheists objected, and the Santa Monica City Council capitulated. So a beautiful display representing the birth of a man who preached “love one another” was no longer allowed. Fortunately a Church in Santa Monica now displays the scene but it no longer graces the drive down Ocean.
Across the country we find the orchestrated attack on the symbols and sounds of Christmas, the meaning of a holiday that says, “Joy to the World” and “Peace on Earth” is being neutered.
Children are forbidden to sing Christmas Carols at schools that reference the birth of Christ, governors now call Christmas trees “Holiday Trees,” stores no longer have “Merry Christmas” as window displays but say a benign “Season Greetings.”
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer gets more airplay than Silent Night? And we stand by like a bunch of deaf and dumb monkeys, moving about like zombies out of the Night of the Living Dead–because that is what we are becoming–a soulless, dead society.
We stand by as Iran has a pastor in prison because he is Christian. I wonder why some Hollywood “heavyweights” don’t go there to “smell” what’s happening! I am sure if it was a person who was arrested because of a differing sexuality the outrage would be deafening. Is it because of fear that the moral compass of Christians is “intolerant of other religions?” Ah nooo! That has “never” been the case. Oh wait–someone just said, “what about the Crusades, you moron?” Well, the “Crusades” were a reaction to the overwhelming persecution of Christians at that time.
For years it was whispered the attack on Christmas was because of the Jews! That is such a crock of shit–I have never met a Jewish person who resented Christmas or was threatened by Christmas Carols that shouted out the Birth of Christ!
What I do remember was, when I grew up, Chanukah was not as celebrated as it is today. I am glad that it is now. The display of the Menorah during the celebration of Chanukah is a beautiful tradition, but now it, too, is sometimes under attack–Judeo-Christian values are under attack–because the secularists are battling to replace religion with worshiping the tit of government!
Judges have become the new high priests of society, and that is a frightening thought. How the ACLU can attack Christmas under the false guise of protecting individual rights is beyond my small brain to comprehend. Do not I, as a Christian, or my Jewish friends have rights?
Why is the Christmas tree or Menorah offensive and not someone wearing a turban or Burka or publicly displaying their religion when I see them praying in the public square by bowing five times a day, or the dress of the Buddhists all in orange, or the Hasidic dress or the priestly vestments worn by Monsignors or Cardinals–let’s ban it all. Let’s neuter the whole society from any religious symbol or tradition so that those who believe in nothing can have their individual rights expressed!
If it was the Nativity of the birth of Mohammed in question–trust me, the atheists and ACLU would be silent because they would be beheaded!
Remember the outrage our government had over a video that offended, and they said led to the attack at Benghazi? Well, where is the outrage now over the imprisoned pastor or the attack on Christmas and Judeo-Christian values? There should be a day that all who want Christmas and Chanukah celebrated stand and pray together–a day in celebration of America’s Judeo-Christian values.
I know atheists that are not offended by Christmas–so what is really happening? I do not judge who anyone chooses to love or have a relationship with–I am not homophobic in the least nor has my faith ever made me feel any different, so if I will fight for individual rights we must all protect the Judeo-Christian values our nation is founded on.
So, getting back to Die Hard, I call it a “secularist” Christmas movie because it does not have, at its center, a message of faith and or Christ’s birth. It’s a Wonderful Life does because of its faith and reference to angels. Miracle on 34th Street counts, too, because of its message of belief and faith.
Die Hard is an action film that has Christmas as its setting, hence the holiday reference. Bruce Willis’s John McClane runs around barefoot and bloodied, an image that does echo the Crucifixion. Had the film taken place during Easter week–would it become an Easter favorite? Perhaps, but who knows for sure? Or how about during Ramadan? Would it become a wonderful Ramadan seasonal must see? Or Chanukah for that matter?
In any case, I wanted to use Die Hard being called a the greatest Christmas movie of all time as an example of how Judeo-Christian values are slowly and incrementally being substituted by a secular agenda. Yes–agenda.
Merry Christmas (since 354 AD), Happy Chanukah (around 665 BCE) and Happy Kwanzaa (fyi -Kwanzaa was first celebrated in 1966).
– Robert Davi
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