Gee, I wish they had a Jesus Force Four action hero set when I was a kid!
Associated Press – November 14, 2006:
A talking Jesus doll has been turned down by the Marine Reserves’ Toys for Tots program.
A suburban Los Angeles company offered to donate 4,000 of the foot-tall dolls, which quote Bible verses, for distribution to needy children this holiday season. The battery-powered Jesus is one of several dolls manufactured by one2believe, a division of the Valencia-based Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Co., based on Biblical figures.
But the charity balked because of the dolls’ religious nature.
Toys are donated to kids based on financial need and “we don’t know anything about their background, their religious affiliations,” said Bill Grein, vice president of Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, in Quantico, Va.
As a government entity, Marines “don’t profess one religion over another,” Grein said Tuesday. “We can’t take a chance on sending a talking Jesus doll to a Jewish family or a Muslim family.“
JFStan – that’s a riot! You’re very funny. You must be a Catholic…
My view: I see nothing wrong with this Gift. (I am Christian). I was not aware that Jewish and Muslim children receive Christmas presents as Christmas is a Christian based event/holiday.
#34
Jews and Muslims don’t receive Christmas presents. They do however receive gifts as part of their respective holidays which pre date Christmas
#34
Of course you don’t see anything wrong with that. You’re a christian, so it’s totally to your liking. Ain’t takin’ no rocket surgery to figure that out đ
But there is a “little” more to the picture than some of you seem to think.
In pre xstian time, they did indeed celebrate what they called “jĂłl“. In Scandinavian countries they still use this name for it, but in this modern times they call it “Jul”. The known “yuletide” is as far as I know a transformation from “juletid” (tid = time)
So, the old norse men/people(?) celebrated when the days turned longer and brighter. Almost like a “new year party”. (Got to celebrate and hope for fertility and good crops). Snorre Sturlasson (1178-1241) from Island wrote about this in his works describing the pre xstian ways. (So I’m not pulling your leg.)
Of course, when the area was christened (with no please I beg you) it was nothing but very convenient to change the pre christian habit into a christian celebration. Kinda convenient, all that was needed was “Hey guys, keep celebrating. We’re drinking for Jesus now“.
JĂłl was celebrated with good food and lots to drink. Visit any norse home today, and you will find the tradition is alive and well. In fact, only a minority put any Jesus in the celebration.
So, go ahead. Knock yourself out and celebrate Christmas. It’s your right and probably obligation as a xstain. But let the rest of us celebrate whatever we feel for, don’t monopolise it.
And don’t ram the freaking, squeaking, speaking dolls on kids who don’t want them.
BTW, I heard the nails and cross were accessories and cost extra….
I think the Marines are missing the point. Christmas is a Christian holiday and last time I looked the USA was a Christian country. “In God we Trust” is there for a reason on the greenback!
I’ve been reading comments and some people say that the dolls are bad gifts. Don’t you think that a little kid would prefer having at least something to open on Christmas than nothing? Last year there were a lot of kids who went without anything because the Marines ran out of presents.
I doubt kids of other religious denominations would be upset to have a Christian themed present on Christmas. If they’re open to celebrating the holiday then they would probably be happy to get anything at that time of year.
#37 Elwipo
What make you think children of other religious denominations are celebrating Christmas? Maybe they are celebrating Chanukah.
How arrogant some Christians are!
Just because the USMC is giving out “Christmas” presents doesn’t mean that the children acknowledge “Christmas” as the reason for the gifts. The USMC seems to understand this. Why can’t you?
Another thing
How in the hell does “In God we Trust” denote Christianity? Is God exclusively yours too?
#37 – Um… .”In God we trust” – um…. which god? Doesn’t say in Christ we trust, or in Buddha we trust,, or in Allah we trust….. Says GOD. So which god?
Besides, you and so many others here just miss the point. Toys for Tots does NOT give Christmas gifts. They give Gifts. Period. Gifts for kids. Christian kids, Jewish kids, Muslim kids, Buddhist kids….. All kids who come from families in need.
>part of their respective holidays which pre date Christmas
What Muslim holiday predates Christmas? How old is Christmas anyway?
This isn’t too surprising when even the Supreme Court ignores the Ten Commandments on its building and claims it’s the Ten Amendments.
Of course the season isn’t a Christian one alone. The Jews and those who follow pagan rituals and the Muslims all have significant events that occured during this time of year.
Because of the solstice the month we call December has many roles to play, depending on who you are.
In this country, we have been primarily a Christian country, and when asked most people still claim to be, so Christmas is what we call this time of year. Not being a practicing Christian I have no religious dog in this hunt…..but to be honest, I miss some of the religious pagentry that accompinied the Holiday when I was a kid. I will get up in the middle of the night to watch midnight Mass at the Vatican, or to hear the Morman Tabernacle Choir sing. But I understand that not everyone thinks of this time of year the same as I do.
Seeing Happy Holidays signs is nice, but I still go around wishing people Merry Christmas. I think our over litiginous society has gone to far towards the secular…..since most people claim to be Christian, then why not as a store, celebrate Christmas, as Christmas. We celebrate Chauneka(sp) at the same time, and from what my parents tell me, have done so since the 50″s at least. What is wrong with a creche on public property, as long as it was paid for by a non-public group….after all, no one screams when we celebrate other cultural or religious holidays on public property(ie. Hanakah, Kawnsa, cinco de mayo), it seems to only be wrong to publically celebrate Christian holidays. Seperation of church and state is a good thing, but trying to eradicate church(religion) entirely from the scene is a diservice to our heritage and history. Kind of like Stalin trying to rewrite Russian history…..it is just stupid and wrong.
Personally, I’ve grown up about religion, I no longer need a religion to have faith, but I don’t begrudge religious based faith to those who feel thats what they need.
Besides, this is the about the only time of the year when most religions put aside differences and conflict and become what they claim to be the rest of the year. Open hearted, merciful, and kind to their fellow man.
Here is a video news stroy about it from CBS 4 in Boston
http://tinyurl.com/yg3sxo
The best part is at the end of the written story there is a link titled
“Man Accidentally Shoots Himself In Groin” LOL
Why will the Christians be celebrating the birth of their namesake (who was really born sometime in August) on a pagan day? Monday is named after the moon and worshiped by most âpaganâ people, but the Celts and Norse in particular. In fact, the month is really a Roman month, December, or the tenth month. You know, you would think that with 12 months and 12 Disciples…
30. My Christmas wish, J, is that all of the beautiful children of the world can reach out and accept the cherished diversity of cultures, traditions and religions that humanity has to offer without scorn or conceit or prejudice or bias. Jew accepts Muslim. Hindus for Animists. Buddhist welcomes Vishnu, USMC embraces Jesus. (Well, they mostly do when High Explosive artillery is raining down upon them.) I have a dream, J. Someday I hope you’ll join me.
RBG
You have to love the statement made by the Marines
” We canât take a chance”
Yeah Right!!!!!!!!
The toughest guys around cant take a chance out of sending dolls to Jewish or muslin kids…hehe
Their not smart enough to know who they are sending the dolls to?
And what about boys, can they chance sending a boy a doll.
Thats like saying we can’t open a history book book it may be too offensive.
Hopefully one day everyone will stop being politically correct!
#45 RGB
It would be a whole lot easier for people to accept one another if certain religions, mainly Christianity, didn’t try to ram their religion down others throats.
What makes you think all members of the USMC are Christian or want to be? Once again you demonstrate the arrogance of the Christians.
BTW From what I remember Christmas began somewhere around the 4th or 5th century where as many of the Islamic traditions began B.C. despite the formation of their religion being long after. Just as many “Christian” traditions began long before the birth of christ. You know because they, like everyone, stole from the pagans
#23 – Moses is a safe bet with the big three, and will not offend Buddhist or Hindus.
Comment by rctaylor â 11/15/2006 @ 12:26 pm
What will offend Buddists or Hindus? đ
I suspect that many of the people who express such surprise at the “unnecessarily sensitive” decision by the Toys For Tots program would have a knee-jerk negative response to a certain parallel situation. Imagine if Toys For Tots agreed to distribute dolls of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) quoting passages from the Koran. Imagine also that these innocent gifts are being given to young children whose religious thinking is not yet well-formed, or perhaps this is their very first exposure to religion.
The gift I wish for you this Holiday (not Christmas) season is for you to be able to empathize with others, and treat them as you would wish to be treated. Merry Humanity to all, and may the Winter Solstice bring joy to you and yours.
47.
“USMC embraces Jesus. (Well, they mostly do…”
76% of the US is Christian according to this source. So it’s a good bet the USMC is similar. More if you think atheists wouldn’t risk terminating themselves on a battle field.
http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#religions
And sure enough, Wikipedia backs this with 76.7 % of US military being Christian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States#Religion
Isn’t it sad when a wee minority can deny people (ie: the majority of the USMC) the small comfort of distributing dolls representative of their source of inner strength when it comes to sacrificing themselves for you?
Even worse, the statistically insignificant numbers of people who would profess to speak for the other Marines who are not Christian.
RBG
#50 —
Yes… Over 70% of American’s are Christians and the overwhelming majority of Marines identify themselves as Christian too…
Christian does not always equal “fundamentalist loonbat bible thumping asshole”… That’s just Jerry Falwell’s crowd… The typical Christian probably fully understands why such overtly religious toys (toys are fun so can you call these toys) are not appropriate.
Now let’s start trotting out the indefensible bullshit about how Christian are persecuted in modern America… I swear I though the 21st Century would be an enlightened ago, but I guess I was just being optimistic.
51. No need, you just did it for me.
RBG
I lost my father at the beginning of Vietnam and an older brother at the end. Neither one of them were Christian. My father was a Jew and my brother an atheist So don’t you sit there and tell me that they are sacrificing themselves for me! You snot nosed punk! Every member of my family except my mother and myself has served time in the military and in every branch except Air Force. None of them are Christians! They do their job because the believe in an ideal and country not because they believe in Jesus! How dare you tell me what is being scarified! I know dam well what that is about!
24% is not a wee minority and they are not deny anyone anything except the privilege to trample all over the bill of rights. This country was set up so that a majority could not force their way of life down the throat of a minority. It is protected in the constitution many time over. From what you post I gather you don’t really believe in what are founding fathers set forth.
“Even worse, the statistically insignificant numbers of people who would profess to speak for the other Marines who are not Christian” – RGB
Tell that to all the dead soldiers who don’t happen to be Christian.
My family has given more time and life to protecting this country then you can even imagine so don’t you dare try to claim it as a Christian sacrifice!!
#52 How?
Yes… I say mean things about fundies… Being insulted isn’t persecuation… and if it is I want all you conseravtives to stop persecuting me…
The Xian persecuation fantasy is bullshit at best and wish fulfilment at worst… and I think the worst, because I don’t think fundies are comfortable unless they imagine themselves being martyred for Jesus…
53. Deep breaths, J.
I’ll remember what you’ve said every time I go to the cenotaph ceremony wearing either my Navy tie or my Army Regimental tie. And I’ll certainly be listening more carefully next time to the part about who the sacrifices were for as made by both my unit’s fallen comrades-in-arms.
Real sorry for your losses but unless you or your family is in the majority I mentioned, somehow I wouldn’t expect you to relate to the Christian comfort I referred to. Did I say otherwise?
Let’s see 1.4% of the military is Jewish. 14.2% profess no religion. Maybe “wee” is the wrong word, but it was one of the synonyms offered for “small.” Not to mention the numbers from these “small” groups who would actually want to enforce their right to veto the practices of the majority.
You’re wrong if you believe every soldier and every member of every religion is intolerance and repulsed by the practice of religions other than their own.
Claiming war to be a “Christian sacrifice” are your words designed to justify your bile.
RBG
Since when do Jewish or Muslim people celebrate Christmas?
Your guys can argue all day about the reason for the “holiday season”. It is celebrated because it is the time of Christ’s birth. Jews nor Islamics celebrate CHRISTmas, so why should Jewish or Islamic children be given a gift? Be it a Jesus doll or a Candyland Game.
Toys For Tots will never receive another donation from me or my family. Too bad, really. The original concept was to give Christmas gifts to children who otherwise wouldn’t receive one.
Wishing all of you a very Merry CHRISTmas (not happy holiday season).
For all those people who are saying Toys For Tots is not a Christmas program . . . Guess, What? It is! And that fact that a Christ Doll is supposedly not an appropriate CHRISTmas gift is ludicrous.
This is not about Christians trying to foist their religion on folks, but rather about the Secular Folks trying to take our Religious Holiday and make it MEANINGLESS. I for one will be boycotting Toys for Tots and giving to needy children through another organization.
From the Marine’s Toys For Tots VERY OWN website:
“GOAL: The primary goal of Toys for Tots is to deliver, through a shiny new toy at CHRISTMAS, a message of hope to needy youngsters that will motivate them to grow into responsible, productive, patriotic citizens and community leaders.
OBJECTIVES: The objectives of Toys for Tots are to help needy children throughout the United States experience the joy of CHRISTMAS; to play an active role in the development of one of our nation’s most valuable natural resources – our children; to unite all members of local communities in a common cause for three months each year during the annual toy collection and distribution campaign; and to contribute to better communities in the future.”
Toys are great for children during this season, as Christians we know what it means. Please share your love with the children especially the needy children who have no one to give them love or make them smile!
This means alot to christ himself and I am sure if he could be here with us, that is what he could be doing.
God loves us and gave us his only son! Give your love to others who dont have and like him!
Well all in all, I can understand the Marine program’s refusal, however hypocritical it is>> if you base it on their original premise of Toys for Tots like B. Alise apparently correctly states.
I believe a nondenomenational toy is more appropiate without a doubt if in fact other children from different religious beliefs are involved in receiving toys through this program.
Happy Holidays to All whatever your view is & God Bless to all regardless of your beliefs or nonbeliefs. This is the Holiday season and of course more Christians in USA than other groups in this country I know, but we should not do anything that alienates children or their families.
The reason of the season is Jesus. So why not give a Jesus Doll. SHAME ON THEM FOR TURNING DOWN THE DOLLS!!!!!!!!!!! And if someone is receiving the gifts AT CHRISTMAS then they are celebrating JESUS.