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Christmas horror movie offends religious groups - CNN.com

Movie studio Dimension Films has remade a cult hit from 1974 about a group of female students being terrorized by a killer during Christmas and is releasing the film, “Black Christmas,” on December 25 — tagging it as the “ultimate slay ride.”But religious groups have condemned the timing of the release of the R-rated slasher movie as tasteless and offensive.

“To have a movie that emphasizes murder and mayhem at Christmas, a time of celebration and joy around the world seems to be ill founded,” said Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, an organization dedicated to upholding religious freedom and traditional family values.

Jennifer Giroux, who co-founded Operation Just Say Merry Christmas as a way to reclaim the season for Christians, said it was abominable to release this film on Christmas Day.

“The use of religious music — ‘Silent Night’ — and the nativity set on the front porch in one scene are insensitive to Christians,” Giroux said after watching the trailer online.

“It’s not enough to ignore and omit Christmas, but now it has to be offended, insulted and desecrated. Our most sacred holiday, actually a holy day, is being assaulted.”

We would do a lot better as a society if people would just let the small stuff go by. There are truly offensive things being done to people of religion and in the name of religion, a silly slasher movie is not one of them. These religious organizations would go a long way understanding that they lose their credibility when jump up in arms for these small insignificant matters. Throwing around words like “desecrated” and “assaulted” when talking about a stupid movie makes you look silly. You can’t expect any of us to give anything you say credence if you run around shouting the sky is falling at everything.

Spend your energy and time on things that really matter and let the rest take care of itself.

MySA.com: Metro | State

Fredericksburg officials decided Thursday that a local church’s holiday decoration doesn’t violate the city’s sign ordinance and can stay.

“That’s good news,” said Ed Smith, business manager at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, where the 3-foot by 4-foot banner donated by a civic group was placed on the parsonage porch two weeks ago.

“It’s a piece of canvas that says on the top ‘Keep Christ in Christmas,’ and it has a picture of Mary and Joseph and Jesus on it,” said Smith, who wasn’t sure if the church would have removed it if the order had stood.

Mayor Jeryl Hoover said a code enforcement officer’s position that the banner violated sign regulations was overridden by administrators who concluded it was a seasonal decoration and may remain.

“If it was just a Christmas decoration it ought to stay,” Hoover said. “That’s my opinion.”

The same thing goes for those of us who choose no religion or choose a religion that isn’t Christianity. This is a banner on a Church, not city hall. What do you expect a church sign to say during the holidays? They are a religious organization, don’t expect them to be anything they are not. Don’t expect to be protected from ever seeing the word Christ or Christian sentiments at churches. Grow a thicker skin, they aren’t violating you in any way. If the sign offends you then look away.

If we all spend a little more time worrying about things that really matter and ignoring perceived slights we might find that both sides can find a way to respect each other.

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