Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

In a previous letter in response to yet another irrelevant rant by our own local Trump parrot, Frank Aquila, I suggested he go back to his Fortress of Solitude, take a long nap and come back around 2020 with some new ideas, given the dubbing the GOP House took in California and around the Nation, his old ideas didn’t work then and surely would not work after the fact.

Apparently on his way there, he stopped at a Evangelical Revival Tent and decided he would go back to blaming Democrats for what he has decided is a war on Christmas. (“Assault on Christmas in the USA) Dec 15 by Frank Aquila”.) I assume Aquila believes only Republicans can be Christians. Democrats and Independents must be Muslims, Jews, Atheists or some other religious Cult which does not recognize Jesus as the Son of God. Actually the way I understand that Christian theory, is that Jesus is just a third part of a threesome, God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirt. When I was a kid and a practicing Catholic, where church services were recited in Latin, that third part, the “Holy Sprit” was known as the “Holy Ghost”. That was changed to the “Holy Spirt”, I assume because the “Holy Ghost” was too closely associated with Halloween and would scare the kids. Just another change in an ever changing Christian religion.

Aquila tries in vain to connect the Democrats and the ACLU with the Communist Russian government and their Atheist view of the Christian religion. Ironic on two fronts, first Russia is the home of the Christian Eastern Orthodoxy, secondly, Trump’s rather close relationship with Russia’s Putin. Trump is all about how great a Putin run atheist government seems to be. Trump has not, and will not utter a disparaging word against the atheist Russian government or Putin plus the GOP remains quiet to this cozy and bothersome  relationship. So much for Russia’s influence on Democrats.  

Aquila seems to want Religion in schools and Government and tossed aside “Separation of Church and State” as meaningless which he claims is “nowhere to be found in the U.S. Constitution”. Actually “ Separation of church and state “ is paraphrased from Thomas Jefferson and used by others in expressing an understanding of the intent and function of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” The phrase “separation between church & state” is generally traced to a January 1, 1802, letter by Thomas Jefferson , addressed to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut , and published in a Massachusetts newspaper.

Of course when Aquila says he wants Religion in schools and government, he specifically means his brand of Christian religion, not the Mormon brand or the Catholic brand or any of the other eight major branches of Christianity of which there are a total of nine. Assuming Aquila claims to be included in one in the following list: 

1. Assyrian Church

2. Eastern Orthodoxy (Russia)

3. Oriental Orthodox

4. Roman Catholicism

Reformation branches:

1. Anabaptism

2. Anglicanism

3. Calvinism

4. Lutheranism

5. Restoratioism

Included in these nine major branches are it’s 43,000 Christian denominations (This number is expected to grow to 55,000 by 2025). It is a safe bet Aquila doesn’t want any of the thousands of non-Christian religions included in his grand Christians only, religious club such as Muslim, Jewish or Buddhist even if some celebrate the Christmas Season in some form. Even among Christians, Christmas is not always a religious holiday, in fact only two-thirds of Christians (65%) say Christmas is mostly a religious holiday, while most non-Christians see the holiday as more of a “cultural” event than a religious occasion. Overall, the American religious landscape has become more diverse in recent years. Christians have dropped from 78% of U.S. adults in 2007 to 63% in 2018.

There is no war on Christmas; it is just evolving, just like Religion, including the Christian Religion, has evolved over thousands of years. I would suggest to Aquila once again, stop worrying about how Charlie Brown’s Christmas is doing in the schools or what letter candy canes shape resemble. We have much more serious problems in this world than Christmas trees without an angel on top. Happy Holidays Frank — and a happy New Years, when the Democrats take over the House of course.

Larry Baca

Manteca