LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Today is Saturnalia, the birthday of the Invincible Sun, who, while having this day poached by a bunch of cheeky newcomers, is, still Invincible to this day.

It is also Christmas for people on the Gregorian calendar. For those still on the old Julian calendar, your Christmas will be in twelve days. Ever wonder where the Twelve Days of Christmas came from? Before commerce ruined the holiday for everyone by cranking its advent well towards Columbus Day, Christmas Day was the start of all the festivities, cumulating in the Twelfth Night celebration on Epiphany, January 6th. Here in the weary USA, the festivities stop tonight, and tomorrow is the contest for how early one can get one's tree to the curb. Of course, since the dang thing has been up since Black Friday, it would be reasonable to remove such a fire hazard from the home. Had the tree been put up on Christmas Eve, as was once the tradition, it could remain for the entire 12 days.

Ah, well.

Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Day Off, Happy Saturnalia, Happy [insert celebration here]. To all of you who have recently arrived, welcome. Please make sure to read the posting guidelines on our userinfo page. Doing so will keep me from donning my moderator hat and deleting inappropriate posts. We're just 7 people short of busting 1000 registered users, which is a real surprise for such an esoteric and specialized subject.

But your participation, attention, and spreading the word have had some effect already. The Dominionist onslaught on our country and government, while not reversed or halted- has been tripped up by people figuring out what they are up to. No longer can they get away with dwelling in relative obscurity. People like Frederick Clarkson, Jeff Sharlet, Mikey Weinstein, and many others have diligently been working to reveal the machinations of these True Believers™ and their grabs for power and money. The takeovers of mainline churches have slowed down, or in some notable cases, have been halted, the sedition in the Pentagon and USAF Academy has been revealed and is being investigated, and several of the leaders of this movement have fallen during the year- most notably Pastor Ted Haggard, who was featured in a Sharlet article "Soldiers of God" last year. And the stunning defeat of the Republican majority in both the House and Senate was a big hint that people are tired of the status quo, the hypocracy, and the overbearing attitudes, and want change.

It is OK to worship and believe what you will- our country permits that. What is not OK is to impose one religious criteria upon an entire population or government. We cannot rest, however. The religious right might have suffered a setback, but it has not thrown in the towel. The Intelligent Design advocates are now attacking physics and astronomy and other hard sciences thought to be immune from their onslaught. There's a bigoted battle going on about a Congressman using something other than a Bible to swear his oath of service. And the religious war against homosexuals and female reproductive autonomy and self-determination continues on, unabated.

Remain vigilant, stand your ground, and remember that some of these people are "Christian" in name only. Consider their deeds, not their words. And keep up the good work.