Magats_Love_NHB
Let It Burn!
Pure ignorance
The anti-LGBTQ+ organization Catholic League put up a billboard in Wisconsin claiming ownership over the season of winter and specifically calling out “atheists” as well as people who celebrate Winter Solstice, a holiday that has been celebrated since the Stone Age. That is, since well before Christianity existed.
“Atheists strike out at Christmas,” the billboard reads, “celebrating Winter Solstice is a child’s game.”
“This is our season – not yours,” it continues. “Celebrate the birth of Christ. Merry Christmas!”
The billboard says that it’s paid for by the “Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.” The group’s website also takes credit for the billboard, stressing that “the Christmas season is our season. We rule. They lose.”
The website explains that the billboard is a response to signs that the religious freedom organization Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) puts up each year in Madison, where its headquarters are located.
“At this Season of the Winter Solstice, let reason prevail,” their sign says, according to a photo posted by independent journalist Hemant Mehta. “There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth & superstition that hardens hearts & enslaves minds.”
Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, told the Christian Post that he hopes “our billboard emboldens Catholics, letting them know that we will not be bullied by our adversaries.”
The Catholic League and Donohue have a long history of attacking LGBTQ+ rights. Donohue opposes marriage equality and supports conversion therapy. He has called AIDS “self-inflicted,” said trans people don’t exist, and compared marriage equality with South African Apartheid.
Last year, Donohue was outraged against the LA Dodgers for honoring the LGBTQ+ charitable group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence during Pride Month. He accused the MLB of spreading lies, “rewarding hate speech,” and “promoting bigotry” with homosexuals “known for simulating sodomy while dressed as nuns.”
Donohue was able to get Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to speak out against the Dodgers, and the Dodgers eventually caved to his demands and uninvited the Sisters from the team’s Pride Night. After outcry from LGBTQ+ fans, the Dodgers re-invited the Sisters several days later.
There is evidence that Winter Solstice – or the shortest day of the year – has been honored in the Northern Hemisphere since prehistoric times. Megalithic monuments like Newgrange and Stonehenge align with the position of the sun on Winter Solstice, and diverse cultures have written records of celebrations held on that day.
Christmas, on which Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, likely evolved from Winter Solstice celebrations, historians believe.
