Episode 72: War on Christmas (Happy Xmas / Holidays 2022)

These days, you get arrested and thrown in jail just for saying Merry Christmas. Or, at least, that's what Christian snowflakes, certain media vicars and most of the right wing media would have us believe.  Apparently, atheists, humanists, Muslims and the 'Woke Liberal Elite' are policing our words, forcing us to say 'Happy Holidays' and thus deny Christ. This and other bullshit comes up in our Christmas 2022 episode, in which we discuss whether a helpful sensitivity to non-Christians during the season may have drifted into paranoia and persecution mania. We hear from an actual atheist humanist on the topic and also discuss whether progressivism can be a bit joyless and what our favourite Christmas films and songs are. Spoiler: none of us said Die Hard, because we are cool.  Our Christmas movie picks:  Jonty Film: Silent Night  Why? "Because I thought it was just going to be a slightly bitchy Love Actually, but it is profound, shocking and existentially horrifying. I wept. Also it's pretty funny and very well written."   Laura Film: Beauty and the Beast - The Enchanted Christmas  Why? "Because every family has that one niche film that they always watch at Christmas, and this was ours. And I like it. And it has one of the best Disney songs. And I like it."    Malky  Film: Home Alone Why? "Because of the childhood feels. When I was a kid, it felt awesome. I thought Kevin was an awesome dude. And it's got a solid amount of slapstick, so my kids will watch it now and enjoy it."     Our Christmas song picks: Jonty:    Malky:   Laura:    About Beer Christianity Beer Christianity is an anti-capitalist, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ+, post-post-post-evangelical (and apparently Republican) podcast where we drink a bit and talk a lot. Our aim is to be real, to be helpful and to be entertaining. Follow Beer Christianity on Twitter: @beerxianity and find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Stitcher.  If you leave us a voicenote at speakpipe.com/beerchristianity we might air your question on an episode. Beer Christianity also has a newsletter in which Jonty and guest authors comment on the news, theological issues and stuff that matters. Sign up to the Beer Christianity newsletter on Substack.  There's a connected Show With Music on Spotify called New Old Music. Check it out if you like eclectic music and weird chat. It's not terribly serious.  Jonty's novel, Incredulous Moshoeshoe and the Lightning Bird, is not available in all good bookshops, but if you bought it and left a review that would probably make that more likely.  All Beer Christianity shows and info available at http://beerchristianity.libsyn.com  We don't really want to preach at you, but some people like to know what we believe. It's this: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to teach us a better way to be while reconciling us to God and each other in a way we could never do without Him. He also changed water into wine. Nice.  Apologies if you're viewing this on Libsyn. Just generally. But also because they recently changed their blog editor and removed the ability to align pics or build in some horizontal space without coding it in. Progress! We have a much nicer website at beerchristianity.co.uk - go check that out instead.