Terrorist Holiday Cards

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Last year I received what was probably a well-intentioned Christmas card from an old and dear friend.  It featured her and her husband and their two teenage children dressed in holiday fashion and gathered in a festive holiday setting - and each member of the family was holding a long black rifle like those which members of the military carry.    They are a lovely family - but the card was tasteless and reprehensible.  I just filed it away without comment, but I have decided that if she sends a similar one this year, I will return it - and perhaps last year's as well.

There's something about using a photo of a well-armed family militia to honor the birth of the Prince of Peace that just does not ring true to the spirit of the season.

Two members of Congress have been in the news this week for posting similar holiday photos of their own families on social media.  Both, not surprisingly, are Republicans.  Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has a family portrait on-line featuring him and six members of his family holding weaponry with a message that says "Merry Christmas" and asks Santa to "please bring ammo."

And then today Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado posted an on-line holiday photo of herself sitting infront of a beautiful Christmas tree surrounded by her well-armed four young sons.  Boebert, who has described herself as "a strong Christian woman who values faith deeply," has referred to one of her Muslim colleagues in Congress as "black-hearted" and "evil," and implied she was a terrorist.  However, with the release of Boebert's current holiday card, it looks as though that name-calling may have just been a case of projection.

I am offended by these gun-toting holiday cards.  Conservatives like to wring their hands and make all sorts of noises about the need to put Christ back in Christmas, but this type of insensitivity to the true meaning of the season would appear to do just the opposite.  They are worshiping weapons of war and ignoring Christ's pleadings for peace.  Actor and social activist George Takei noted on Twitter this morning his belief that these gun-laden holiday cards represent the true war on Christmas.

Next Tuesday, December 14th, will be the ninth anniversary of the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, an attack in which twenty-eight individuals died - including twenty children between the ages of six and seven.  It was the only time in my entire life that I can remember crying as the result of a news story, and I shed many tears that afternoon as that horrible story was unfolding.   Now we have members of Congress who not only refuse to act to prevent future Sandy Hooks, but choose instead to entangle the proliferation of guns in America with their Christmas messages.

Decent people everywhere should be appalled, and I suspect that Christ certainly would be!  Today's American terrorists aren't wearing hijabs in the Halls of Congress, they are sitting around the Christmas hearth stroking their weapons!