Florida group crusades to 'keep Christ in Christmas'
Pastor Dale Morgan
Florida group crusades to 'keep Christ in Christmas'*
By Lois K. Solomon
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 20, 2007
Billboards and car magnets are urging Palm Beach County drivers to "Keep
Christ in Christmas," a renewed campaign spurred by an influx of what
organizers call anti-Christian expressions in American society.
More than 30,000 "Keep Christ in Christmas" car magnets have been sold
by the Pilot Program To Keep Christ In Christmas, a Boca Raton-based
group formed in October that has recruited several denominations to join
the campaign.
Local chapters of the Knights of Columbus and students at Pope John Paul
II High School in Boca Raton also are selling magnets. Two bright red
billboards, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, have been posted in
Wellington and West Palm Beach.
Organizers say they are disgusted with society's increasing nonsectarian
nature, especially at a time of year they believe should focus on Jesus
and his amazing birth story.
"The atheists are going to conquer," said Kay Mansolill, a leader of the
Boca Raton committee. "We are in constant battle with the secular world."
Young Christians say they also are frustrated.
"I'm tired of seeing 'X-mas' and 'Happy Holidays' at stores," said
Jessica Aquino, 15, a Pope John Paul II sophomore.
Several trends are galvanizing Christians who believe the faith is under
assault.
A new film starring Nicole Kidman, The Golden Compass, a children's
fantasy about a girl who rescues kidnapped children from horrific
experiments in a land far away, opened last week. Christ Fellowship, a
mega-church with campuses in Royal Palm Beach, West Palm Beach and Palm
Beach Gardens, e-mailed its congregation to urge a boycott of the movie,
calling it "anti-church."
At the same time, an abundance of books on atheism have hit the
best-seller lists, climaxing recently with Christopher Hitchens' God Is
Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.
Salvation Army bell ringers were prohibited at some stores. Santa Claus
and creches were banned from some malls.
The village of Wellington attracted national attention in 2005 when its
council debated whether to include the Holy Family in its holiday
display. Mike Romeo, a Wellington resident and former Knights of
Columbus grand knight, said the incident inspired him to raise money for
the billboards this year.
"The secular progressive left is taking Christmas traditions away from
us," said Romeo, who said too many schools have replaced Christmas trees
with snowflakes and snowmen.
"We are building a movement," Romeo said.
The Knights of Columbus, the national Catholic fraternal group based in
New Haven, Conn., has been sponsoring Keep Christ in Christmas programs
since the 1980s, spokesman Peter Sonski said. He said the organization
always has encouraged chapters to develop their own initiatives.
Romeo said the response to the billboard campaign has been so positive —
he raised $8,000 — that he wants to expand it next year to increase the
participation of other faiths.
Mansolill said she also wants to expand next year.
The pilot program sells magnets, writes letters to the editor and works
to get nativity scenes placed in malls.
"I didn't expect the extremely positive reaction we are getting,"
Mansolill said. "I'm hoping a few years from now our committee won't be
needed anymore because we were so successful."