The first thing I thought on reading this was, “they hate us for our freedoms”. This is a fundamental misapprehension of what atheists are trying to accomplish by keeping certain religions from establishing themselves as the “official” religions of a particular part of government, installing Christian iconography in public places and thus pushing out all other religions’ believers (or, yes, non-believers like ourselves).

There ought to be plenty of atheists visibly excited about the secular aspects of the holidays that Pat MUST know he’s talking out his ass here. Right? I mean, think of how horrified he is any time people put priority on the tree and the gifts and the feast and spending time with family, rather than on Baby Jesus. I mean, think of what percentage of those people must have been atheist.



Of course, he probably doesn’t think that way. I’m betting to him, if you’re a person who enjoys the holidays without the religious trappings, you’re simply a Christian who’s forgetting to honor Christ. This is, naturally, an expression of the religious privilege of being in the dominant religion in an area — any attempt at reminding people that other religions exist and that yours shouldn’t be forced on others is equivalent to people trying to take away your own rights.

This ideation is not dissimilar from what he said in his 1993 interview with Molly Ivins:

Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It’s no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media, and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history.

Yes. It’s terrible being the dominant religion and being told you’re not allowed to impose your religion on the minorities. Ever so terrible. Just like being stripped naked and herded into gas chambers.

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