We have all considered the commercialization of Christmas in our culture. But the two stories Glenn shared on radio this morning really make you question whether we have completely lost the ‘Christ’ in ‘Christmas’.
Over the last few weeks, TheBlaze received several tips from readers who had recently attended the ‘Candlelight Processional’ at Epcot and Disneyland parks and found “One Solitary Life,” an essay that has been read during the ‘Candlelight Processional’ since 1976, was removed from the program.
This overtly Christian text, written by Dr. James Allan Francis in 1926, details Jesus’ life, death and historical impact.
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The essay has been recited to complement the traditional biblical story of Jesus’ birth since 1976, making its recent removal more than noticeable.
But demand for the show and production constraints have apparently created a need, according to Disney, to shave time off of each performance so that the cast and crew can properly prepare for the three back-to-back performances that unfold each night during the holiday season.
“They have decided to cut the Jesus part out of it. But they're only doing it for time. It's like cutting 220 words out of it, which is [like] three minutes… Three minutes is nothing when you're at a Disney park. It's a 90-minute show,” Glenn said exasperatedly. “They're cutting three minutes out of it. And what are they cutting out of it… The apex of the Christmas story… So basically let's hollow out the Christmas story. Let's just take the Jesus part out of the Christmas story and just make it about peace on Earth.”
While Disney maintains the decision was solely related to time, Glenn could not help but question the changing culture at Disney.
“I don't trust the Disney brand anymore. I know a lot of people that don't trust the Disney brand anymore,” Glenn explained. “I study Disney. I sat there at the park and I looked at them. I watched the employees, as Walt used to do, with my watch, and I watched. Somebody dropped a paper; how long does it take? I saw three people trip over a carpet before I went and fixed it – with Disney employees standing right there… They've lost the culture of Disney… Now listen carefully: Once you lose the culture of a company, you lose the company.”
But Disney is not the only institution facing a cultural crisis. Controversy has swelled across the country after an Air Force base in South Carolina removed a nativity scene on Friday.
“Did you see it's not just Disney that's hollowing out the Christmas story? It's also the Air Force,” Glenn said. “The Air Force now has taken down [a nativity scene]… because one complaint came in. Within [2 hours], they had the nativity scene taken down.”
“They took it down from one complaint,” Pat added. “Because somebody sent them a threatening message that it violated the Constitution. How? Ridiculous.”
The debate is still unfolding at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, S.C., after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a church-state separatist group, contacted the Pentagon to voice concerns this month over the nativity display.
The organization’s president, Mikey Weinsten, said that 41 airmen complained to the group about the presence of the nativity and so the Military Religious Freedom Foundation contacted the Pentagon and the Christmas display was inevitably removed from the premises, WLTX-TV reported.
The church-state group said on its website that the display “was very sectarian in nature and a direct violation of the US Constitution as well as a blatant violation of Air Force Instruction 1-1 Section 2.11.”
“So anyway, we're losing our culture here. We're hollowing out our culture,” Glenn concluded. “Wait a minute. If you lose the culture in a company, you lose the company. What happens if you lose the culture in a country?”
Front page image courtesy of the AP
