I read the article entitled “Parade Rest” in the Jan. 16 issue of the Mountain Xpress. I rarely feel compelled to write regarding the poor behavior of the City Council—over which, sadly, I have no say. But I was incensed by the comments of Carl Mumpower, to wit: “While they are at it, I hope we get back to calling the event a Christmas Parade. Other faiths and perspectives are free to organize their own parade and call it what they like. … The Christian majority of WNC should be supported in their spiritual liberties like any other faith.”
Forgive me, but I was under the impression that Christians (in the true sense) were an inclusive group who believed in offering friendship and kindness and fair treatment to all. I wouldn’t choose to be a member of the group to which Mr. Mumpower belongs. I certainly wouldn’t choose to discriminate against the wonderful assortment of participants who choose to celebrate the season of love and giving. Apparently, Mr. Mumpower would.
Perhaps Mr. Mumpower should throw his own parade, for himself. Perhaps with some goose-stepping and some jackboots.
Please, let us all remember Mr. Mumpower’s words in his try for an office [U.S. Congress] with greater power than the City Council. Someone with such exclusions shouldn’t represent a dynamic and diversified populace as the one here in WNC.
— Kelly Banner
Weaverville
It’s probably not worth getting too worked up about. Carl Mumpower has demonstrated that he’s just another right-winger willing to embrace whatever gets people’s emotions going, regardless of whether the topic is objectively valid or not (such as the idiotic, Bill O’Reilly originated ‘war on Christmas’). He’s a panderer that likes to see his name in print.
Ignore him. He’s not going to make much of a mark anyway.
I do agree that he thinks he knows everything and that he seems to want to have his name and face in the news. To speak to Kelly’s point that all should celebrate in harmony, I ask one question. What is the season for? Why is it celebrated? Kelly do you know? The season is founded on Christian Beliefs thats why it is called Christmas. I hope everyone shares and enjoys this time but it is NOT a holiday season.
so we used to have a christmas parade – and now we have a holiday parade?
my bleeding heart says “this is a nice inclusive evolution”.
my sense of balance says “but if i was a christian, i’d be worried about this ‘culture war’ on my beliefs”.
there is an element of hypocrisy here, which makes me uncomfortable decrying mumpower here. why shouldn’t the christians be allowed to have their parade, to have their day?
well, maybe because there’s $20,000 of public funds up for use. and spending them celebrating one religion, even if it’s the majority religion, is just un-american.
however, if none of our money was being spent, i’d feel fine letting the christians have their day. if it was a privately-funded parade celebrating any minority religion, they’d be up in arms if they had to split it with other groups, and make it some general ‘holiday’ trash. persecuting the majority is reverse discrimination – though until the ADA decides to pay for the entire thing, that’s the way it’ll have to be.
Bob, the Christmas holiday was celebrated by the pagans in Germany before they were conquered. It celebrated the end of a year, and the beginning of the next. It is not “founded in Christianity”, but rather founded in pagan beliefs. When the Christians conquered a pagan society they replaced the existing celebration with the birth of Jesus to better indoctrinate the natives, and thereby replace their deity with Christ. Most historians think Jesus was born in June or July. Happy Holidays
Kelly, “we still celebrate Christmas”. Deal with it or move back to yankeeland. We allow witches to circle a tree and cast spells. The least we can do is honor the sentiment of the majority here. Who are Christian.
Thats real democratic of you namvet.
Thank you Dicky. But I am not a democrat. And I do still celebrate Christmas. I also still pray. :)
Well, pray for enlightenment, tolerance, and conversion to the liberal agenda. What if…there’s an obama/clinton ticket, and they win. Will your head explode?
Kelly,
Being that you say you are from Weaverville, then you must know that even a small town like Weaverville still calls their parade in December the Christmas Parade.
Poor insight, however we all have the right to talk.
Right on! I love it whenever the dominant liberal p.c. agenda is rebuffed with traditional Americana! It is not “winter holidays”, it is “Christmas and New Years”! God bless the small towns.
Thanks Nam Vet,
Asheville is caught up with the p.c. agenda – one only has to see were we are with the road with out a bridge.
It saddens me to think that Kelly from Weaverville will not look at the whole picture.
If it’s Christian, then why is it not centered around Christ’s actual birthday? Most educated Christian Scholars acknowledge that Savior’s birth was most likely nowhere near the dead of winter.
In addition, the winter solstice has been celebrated as a time of death and rebirth (of the sun, not the Son) for thousands of years all around the world.
And you know this is just Carl playing politics so he can more properly appeal to the Christian Conservative base he is obviously grooming for his bid for congress.
I agree, though, with the sentiment to call it a Christmas Parade if you want. Just let the left-wing nutjobs have their own, publicly-funded Haunnakah Parade, Solstice Fire, and whatever the Scientologists do. But don’t get your facts too mixed up in your “anti-liberal” frenzie.
Sammule, please. If you are not going to be forthcoming with your own religion, why bray at others? May Day is celebrated as a special workers’ holiday. Yet most scholars agree Karl Marx was NOT born on May 1st. Let’s be consistent whenever possible, OK? :)
“In God We Trust”. Huh, looks like our currency is just not politically correct. :)
Nam Vet,
Wow. Must really piss you off to be in the very small, simple minded, Asheville minority.
As for you purported service, thank you. As for your “insights”, they’re puerile – and extremely dated. Thank god those of us who actually live in the city itself don’t pay much mind to ideas such as yours.
Nam Vet,
I have no particular religion. There was non non-forthcoming with my post. And I am not ‘braying’. But I guess that’s just you being funny, though. ha ha.
My point is that it is a publicly-funded event, which seems to contradict the Constitution, in my perspective.
If you disagree with this, then please discuss it upon those terms. I have no interest in denying you your right to be a Christian, or a Jew, or a Hindu, or whatever. But, as an American, I was taught that the separation of Church and State was an important lynch-pin to our special, Western brand of Democracy. If you feel that many of our Founding Fathers where wrong on this point, then please elaborate. But if you wish to debate by making false statements and silly jokes, well, then…
In addition, Do you really think Mumpower cares about this as a person or politician? Or is it just the same political smoke-and-mirrors both ‘sides’ use to rally their bases and obscure the real issues?
:-)ha ha
Sammule, Carl just wrote a response, printed in today’s new addition. I think he says it very well.
“The letter writer highlighting “Mumpower’s Discrimination is Showing” [Jan. 30] was correct. I have this nagging inner voice that tells me to discriminate against political correctness, bullying by special interests, and those who confuse freedom of religion with freedom from religion.
As regards retaining the name “Christmas Parade,” the facts tell us that most folks living in Western North Carolina are Christians, and for those folks, Christmas is first and foremost a celebration of the birth of Christ. Others are free to celebrate the holiday (which incidentally means “Holy Day”) as they wish. Redefining Christmas into an opportunity to worship Santa, shop till you drop, or [other] secular “feel good” exercises seems to be about everything but love.
References to “goose-stepping and jackboots” by people running for Congress evidently provided comfort to the writer. She seems to have a need to vilify those who dare to suggest that being a loving Christian does not mean you also have to be a spiritual coward.
I take great personal delight in living in a country where we are all free to worship as we wish. That freedom includes the opportunity for the Christian majority to have a Christmas parade that upholds Christian values and yet remains open to all. That is about love.
— Carl Mumpower
Asheville City Council “
Nam Vet, I appreciate that you would like to let everyone celebrate their religion as they would like to do. You don’t want the minority of witches forcing you to worship a tree, and you don’t want the majority Christians forcing the witches to worship Jesus. Does this sum up your position?
If so, it’s a laudable one in the best tradition of our founding fathers.
I wonder, though: do you believe it is fair for the majority Christians to force the minority witches to pay tax dollars to support the Christian celebrations? Would it be fair for the town to impose a property tax to build a new church? If not, would it be fair for the town to use part of existing property taxes to support a religious celebration?
I don’t think that’d be remotely fair, any more than it would be fair to use those tax dollars to pay for any other religious ceremony.
That said, I have no problem with calling the event a Christmas parade, precisely because (according to my own understanding, backed up by Supreme Court decisions), Christmas, Easter, and a handful of other holidays have both religious and secular traditions associated with them. As long as the Christmas parade focuses on the secular traditions (remember, these are not anti-Christian traditions: most Santa Claus advocates are Christian, even though Santa Claus in his common form is not remotely associated with Jesus’s birth), it’s not a problem. It’s not forcing anyone to pay taxes for somebody else’s religious celebration.
Daniel