Not even Christmas is sacred. Time magazine cites authors that call into question the circumstances of Our Lord’s birth.
It seems there is no time out in the nation’s Cultural War. Not even Christmas is sacred. The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) is protesting Time magazine’s publishing of statements against the virginity of Our Lady in the cover article of its December 13 edition.
The American TFP is strongly objecting to what it considers a most unwarranted attack on Mary and the Catholic faith. The Time article cites authors that call into question the circumstances of Our Lord’s birth with declarations like:
“Critics may also have alleged that Jesus’ birth early in Mary’s marriage to Joseph was the result of her committing adultery; much later Jewish sources named a Roman soldier called Panthera. Those accusations, some scholars believe, account for the verse in Matthew in which Joseph considers divorcing Mary before his dream angel allays his doubts” (Time, 12-13-04).
Particularly offensive was how a magazine like Time would be so unfeeling for Catholic sentiment as to provide broad publicity to the dissident opinion of a feminist from the University of Detroit Mercy who suggests “violation as the cause of Mary’s pregnancy” and that the Holy Spirit converted “a ritually taboo pregnancy into an occasion of glory and the birth of the Holy Child.”
The TFP and its America Needs Fatima campaign is asking its members and supporters to speak out now. The peaceful and legal nationwide protest involves prayer, reparation and action.
The American TFP web site is participating in the action with an e-protest. Web site readers can send a protest email and thus fulfill their duty to defend Mary’s purity.
Campaign supporters are being asked to send protest messages telling Time how deeply offended they are with the statements against Mary’s virginity in its December 13 cover article. The messages also ask Time to apologize and never publish such offensive statements again.
“Now is the time to prove our love for Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and for the beautiful mysteries of Christmas, the birth of Christ,” says Robert Ritchie of the America Needs Fatima campaign. “We must always stand up for our faith!”