Adios, Christmas Controlling Language and Minds~Chuck Colson

Adios, Christmas
Controlling Language and Minds
Want to control peoples’ minds? Simply control the words they use -- or don’t use.
I’ll explain more, next on BreakPoint.

December 22, 2010 Chuck Colson
http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/16099

I recently met a man who left his native Cuba when he was eleven years
old. He came from an upper class family and remembered Cuba as a very
beautiful country where the people got along well with one another.

Fifty years later, he finally got a chance to go back. Sure, he knew
that Communism had impoverished the country, but nothing prepared him
for the shock of seeing first hand what had become of his native land.
The country has been totally sapped of its energy and strength and
resources. People get a ration of food for a month that only lasts them
two weeks; so the rest of the time they lie, steal, borrow, beg,
whatever they have to do to get food.

It wasn't only the diminished standard of living that shocked him: He
told me about the extent to which the church has been suppressed by the
Castro brothers. In fact, not only is freedom of religion severely
curtailed in Cuba, there is an effort to expunge words and phrase that
contain references to God!

An obvious is the Spanish word for "goodbye," adios. It literally means
"to God." So, this gentleman told me, it is now suspect. In fact, there
is a whole host of other common Spanish idioms being expunged from the
language-expression s people had used all their lives. And they're being
expunged precisely because they refer to God. In Cuba, as in any
totalitarian state, you can get into serious trouble for using the words
and expressing ideas banned by the government.

Listening to him, I realized that our culture is doing something similar
right here at home: shape people's beliefs and attitudes by controlling
the language they use. The pressure may be more subtle, and the people
doing the controlling may be private, not governmental actors, but the
goals and effects are the same.

The effort is on obvious display during Christians. Case in point: for
seventy years, Tulsa has held a Christmas parade. Now, no one would ever
mistake the parade for a church service: Santa Claus plays a far bigger
role than the infant Jesus.

Yet even this watered-down reference to Christ was too much: in the last
year, "Christmas" was dropped from the title in favor of "holiday." If
"Christmas" is too much for what is arguably the buckle of the "Bible
Belt," where can you use the phrase?

If you think that this is much ado about nothing and that "happy
Holidays" is a perfectly acceptable substitute, you're missing the whole
point. The issue here isn't avoiding offense - it's redefining the terms
of our discussion, eradicating or at least marginalizing any references
to God in the public square. It's to make people think twice about
invoking God, even in passing, in public. Once you control their
language, you control the way they think and behave.

The irony is that the approved word "holiday" is itself derived from
"holy day!" All of this linguistic nonsense is another reminder of why
Christians need to reclaim Christmas. The larger culture may be intent
on taking Christ out of Christmas but, that's all the more reason for us
to place Him at the center of ours.

In fact, today on my Two Minute Warning, I talk more about the need for
Christians to recapture the true meaning of Christmas. Please, go to
ColsonCenter. org and watch it today.

And may you and yours have a blessed Christmas, and a happy holy-day
season.