'Tis the season of futility

Which dies first: truth or compassion? I could have sworn that there was something to the idea of Christian charity, especially around Christmas, but then I was introduced the an individual named Matt Walsh and now I despair of that notion. I was scrolling through my news feed as usual and came across something odd from an odd person.

In case the image doesn't go through, it is an old fashioned nativity with the meme caption "If you would deny middle eastern refugees shelter in America... You don't get to celebrate Christmas." I was able to find it in an article on Wonkette which helps explain it a little. It was out of character for the odd person sharing it because it actually sounds like a meme attempting to shame some compassion and charity out of people who loudly proclaim their Christianity. The person placing it in my feed usually posts things about how vaccines are killing us and the evils of abortion, et. al. The standard issue right wing authoritarian concerns of faux Christians. So I was intrigued that she would post something that was so out of character and clicked on the "Show more" text accompanying the meme. In retrospect I should not have been surprised. From some guy named Matt Walsh:

OK, one of my biggest pet peeves is when people just invent historical facts out of whole cloth and then publish them in the form of a snarky meme, allowing other historically illiterate nitwits to quickly spread the falsehood all over my newsfeed. I guess this isn't really a pet peeve so much as a universal peeve shared by all rational human beings.
That brings us to this meme, or ones like it, which you've probably seen a billion times this month. Chances are you'll see it a billion more times over the next week. It draws a parallel between modern Muslim refugees and the Holy Family at the time of Christ's birth. The Holy Family, according to the meme, were refugees, too. They were even turned away at the inn, just like Republicans want to turn Muslims away! How analogous!

Yes, it's very analogous except for the fact that it's completely wrong on every level. Mary and Joseph were not refugees. They came to Bethlehem for the census because that's where they were born. I've never heard of a refugee fleeing to his hometown for a census.
They were only turned away at the Inn because there wasn't any room. It wasn't because they belonged to a violent religious sect that had been perpetrating terrorist acts all over the globe, causing the innkeeper to be understandably concerned that they might be terrorists.
Now, sometime after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph did flee to Egypt when they heard from the angel that Herod was going to slaughter all of the male babies in and around Bethlehem. If you want to call them "refugees" at THAT point, fine, but that has nothing to do with Christmas.
Even in the oldest Christian traditions with the longest Christmas seasons, the season still ends at the presentation in the temple, which is before they fled. I'm not aware of any church anywhere in the world that extends the Christmas season beyond that. So on no level at all does this analogy apply.
But, OK, because progressives who've never read a Bible and probably couldn't even name two of the Gospel writers have decided to bring this up, let's talk about it. Why did Mary and Joseph flee, exactly? Well, as I said, because there was going to be a wholesale slaughter of infants.
Hmmmm... I wonder where we can find something analogous to the systematic mass murder of babies? Oh, I have an idea: check your local Planned Parenthood. Mary and Joseph had to leave their hometown so that the Christ child would not be a victim of an ancient form of abortion.
If we're going to use the early life of Jesus to make an[sic] political points, then, I think the point is that you shouldn't kill babies because you may be killing Christ. In fact, you are killing Christ every time you kill a baby, because Christ resides in all children.
There's your meme, liberals. Have at it.
Merry Christmas.

Yes, I agree that it is terrible when people "invent historical facts" and spread it around in a meme. Mr. Walsh does not claim to be an historian, at least he lists no credentials of any kind on his facebook page and I don't care enough to visit his site. If he were he would know that there are facts and there is history but combining the two is redundant. Everything else from his arrogant and obnoxious spewing of unfounded assertions rests on a rather large fallacy; the bible is not an historical document no matter how much you insist that it is.

Now, before the fundamentalists took over just about all discourse about Christianity it was commonly accepted that the bible was a collection of allegories and moral lessons, not the literal truth. From the fact that no one actually knows when Christ was born, the early church fathers decided on December 25th to co-opt the Winter Solstice. If there really was an historical Mary and Joseph, then produce this census record. And produce the decree concerning the slaughter on infants while we're at it. I have no idea if any actual historical documents can prove or even corroborate the existence of any facets of the Christmas story and it doesn't really matter because the bible is the foundation text of the Christian religion, not an actual historical document.

That said, I was raised in and still attend a Christian Church. What was stressed to me in that Church was a moral education, not an empirical one, filled with lessons of humility, compassion, love of neighbors, charity for the weak and less fortunate, and above all not bearing false witness. If Christians are to wage war on something it is sin and evil itself, not another tribe called "liberals" but what do I know right? I certainly am impressed with the mental discipline it takes to turn a message of compassion about refugees fleeing an evil war and drop it on abortion. Or should I say horrified and angry? This Matt Walsh is an incredibly self-righteous propagandist, nothing more. Yet, as most double-high authoritarians he is able to speak the language of right wing authoritarian followers and gain their trust. I am late to the party on this particular charlatan as he has a pretty impressive number of people debunking his crap. See here and here for instance.

I guess both truth and compassion die at the same time. Merry Christmas to everyone but Matt Walsh, I hope you suffer horribly before you meet your maker and explain your behavior.