This Should Send

O'Lielly into the ether. I wonder if they ban red and green clothing during services?

Taking the Christmas Out of Christ - Los Angeles Times: "
Carrasco and his Christian congregation of 60 mainly Central American immigrants at the Iglesia de Dios La Nueva Jerusalem (Church of God the New Jerusalem) believe in Jesus as Lord. But they don't keep Christmas.

'There is nothing biblical' in the yuletide celebrations, said Carrasco, 56. 'And we only practice what Jesus orders us to practice.'

What's worse, he continued, Christmas was ungodly, a time of revelry, including drunkenness and 'pleasures of the flesh. They are not celebrating God,' he said.

Carrasco is not alone. A few Christian churches to this day dismiss Christmas with a polite theological humbug, among them a small number of independent Pentacostal churches such as Carrasco's, and the larger and better known Jehovah's Witnesses. Others, such as the Church of Christ, Scientist, avoid much of the pageantry and merriment.

They used to have more company. Even some major denominations, including Baptists, which today trumpet the birth of Jesus with carols and yuletide symbols, dismissed Christmas as unimportant, even pagan, until the early 19th century. Another was the Pasadena-based Worldwide Church of God, which until a major theological upheaval in 1995 had forbidden its members to celebrate Christmas. Some members then left the church and affiliated with breakaway churches that continue to hold Christmas at bay.

There has long been tension over how Christmas should be observed. But the issue has taken on a new urgency this year among Christian conservatives who are pushing for more explicit recognition of the holiday."

This country was founded by Puritans and they didn't like celebrating the holiday either. Did you know that Jehovah's Witnesses believe that religion will be outlawed in this country?