01/03/2013
From: Kathlene Miller
I don’t know if this could qualify as "War Against Christmas" material, but I submit for your consideration.
After the Newtown massacre, which happened during the Christmas season for which we know most of the children’s families were preparing, I saw two televised tributes. One was a children’s choir singing "Silent Night" on Saturday Night Live. The other was members of The Voice show singing Hallelujah — but not a Christian, let alone the Handel, version.
What struck me about both choices was the neutralization of Christmas.
The SNL version of "Silent Night" omitted any mention of "Christ the Savior is born" and instead had the children sing "Sleep in Heavenly Peace." The unusual verse sung second by the Saturday Night choir, about "the wondrous star," was one I've not heard often, but even so it was actually rewritten to redact its mention of Christ.
Neverthless, checking the Huffington Post’s commenters here, I see Christophobia.
A commenter named Ivan Kutchiakokov objected:
"Why would SNL play a Christian Christmas Carol? Not all who were killed were Christians."
To which Tony Dakota sensibly replied:
"It’s not a prayer. You don’t need to be Christian to be comforted by it."
Then Newzy added:
" … Christmas? Get it? I’m no Holy Roller but I think it’s common knowledge that it’s a Christian holiday. Am I wrong here? Also, Maybe Santa Claus is coming to town or Holly Jolly Christmas wouldn’t have had quite the same impact."
For The Voice tribute, the producers chose the secular and dark Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah" which is about David and Bathsheba and temptation.
Yes, this tribute was beautifully done. But it’s not a Christian song and the lyrics really aren’t fitting anyway.
Again, I perused the HuffPo comments. A couple of commenters thought it was a questionable. Atljim said: "It is NOT Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah, it is Leonard Cohen’s. And, while beautiful, it’s a questionable choice." Aintitgrand agreed, saying "Yeah, I thought so to. It’s much darker than the gorgeous tune suggests."
To me, these choices simply prove how the secular forces in our Main Stream Media now insist that explicitly Christian lyrics must be eliminated from popular culture during Christmas.
See previous letters by Kathlene Miller
By Peter Brimelow comments: Kathlene Miller is completely correct: SNL edited the traditional lyrics of "Silent Night" to exclude any reference to Christ. Of course, this raises the question: who are the "virgin mother and child" that the SNL producers did allow to be mentioned? They appear to be an example of what FIRE’s Robert Sibley calls the 'Lord Voldemort' school of censorship
in the massively popular Harry Potter books, most characters will not say the name of the main villain, "Lord Voldemort," instead calling him "He-who-must-not-be-named.
As for "Hallelujah," Leonard Cohen’s lyrics
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
are, however powerful, clearly profane and quite unsuitable to this or any other occasion involving children.
However, I do think that Cohen, who is certainly an artist, intuited something in his penultimate verse:
You say I took the name in vain
I don’t even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what’s it to you?
There’s a blaze of light in every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
There is indeed a "blaze of light" in "Hallelujah," and in "Silent Night."
The question is how long this blaze can continue if its ultimate source is so systematically attacked and repressed.
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