Everyone always complains how commercialized Christmas is now.
Well, consider this...

If you didn't watch TV or go to the stores, how would you know? That's where 90% of the commercialization exists. It only exists in YOU if YOU allow it to happen.

I went to the newspaper article posted by WildGravity and read about the father/daughter who want '451' banned from the public library due to 'language' and other issues. So...I sent this to the reporter:

Hello,
I read your article about the father and daughter who requested that 'Fahrenheit 451" be removed from the public library.
The staff at AB think the request is ridiculous.
These well-meaning folks are only a couple of steps from the type of people who organize book-burnings, in our opinion, and could easily obtain jobs with the Thought Police from the novel '1984.'

F-451 delivers an invaluable lesson to humanity, and the Berns missed the point of the book. They picked apart the text, and ignored the message: Censorship, except in extreme cases such as kiddie porn, etc. is a bad thing.

In addition, Ray Bradbury is an American icon, and probably the best sci-fi writer of the 20th century. Long after this family has moved on from this issue, people will still be reading '451', and the other classics that address basic issues about man and his relationships. Books such as '451', 'Brave New World', '1984', 'Catcher in the Rye', would be among the books memorized by dedicated folks such as happened in the actual '451' book.

We suggest this family be directed to the site listed below to give their views, and then people who have studied Bradbury's work for years would be given a chance to respond in an intelligent manner: The Ray Bradbury Forum.

In any event, even if this wonderful book were banned from the library there, it is not going to 'go away' anytime soon.

Sincerely yours,
Robert M. Blevins
Managing Editor
Adventure Books of Seattle

I love your closing sentence.

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I second that Grasstains. In fact we should have a writing campaign to the author of the article, a letter from each of the "regulars" who post on this board so that that particular person can grasp the extent of how many truly appreciate what Ray has done for us all over the years.

quote:

Originally posted by Nard Kordell:
philnic:

Certainly Christmas has become a farce, the way it is nowadays celebrated. Yep, lots of the founding fathers turned their heads away from the depths to which the celebration of Christmas had taken. Imagine today!! Many symbols come from the non-christian sources. Celebrating the birth of Jesus born into his own creation, is missed by the vast celebrants of today.

WildGravity:
I can understand the thinking of parents like the ones mentioned in the article. Aside from not reading the book, they are up against an impossible fight: protecting their kids from society. Impossible! Legalistic churches tend to deal with impossible situations with extremely difficult measures.
Better yet, to learn about the realities of this fallen world and at the same time knowing how to deal with it within the framework of Christ's love, is the way.

I absolutly agree with you, but still, how do you try to raise your children as believers in christ, and explain why other Christians do these things?

And Robert M Blevins you really are a credit for what you said.