The Cardiff Giant: The Cardiff Giant has become known as the greatest hoax ever conceived.

What does a 2,200 pound hunk of rock lying beneath a tent in Cooperstown, NY tell us about the religious right? Quite a bit more than you might think, especially the lying part. And, if you're real good (or at least real quiet), you just might get another one for Christmas...

The New York Times is reporting that conservative opinion factories have begun taking out advertisements touting Judge Alito as the defender of Christmas from the secular horde. A radio spot by the Committee for Justice states:

Liberal groups like People for the American Way and the A.C.L.U. have opposed public Christmas and Hanukkah displays and even fought to keep Christmas carols out of school.

Some courts and judges have supported this radical agenda, but not Judge Sam Alito. Throughout his career, Judge Alito has consistently upheld the Constitution's protection of free religious expression.

And the conservative Catholic organization Fidelis declares, "Judge Alito ruled against the A.C.L.U.'s attempt to scrub away our religious heritage."

The truth of the matter is a little different:

Judge Alito's record on the issue as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, however, is clear. In addition to the Nativity scene decision, he ruled in favor of allowing local governments to set up Nativity scenes alongside secular symbols. He ruled against a school district that wanted to prevent an evangelical group from sending fliers home to elementary school children. And he ruled in favor of the right of Muslim police officers in Newark to wear beards for religious reasons despite the department's general rule.

Regular followers of this site will remember that I've talked about the religious right's war against the war that doesn't exist on Christmas before. In this manufactured culture war, Alito is just one more artillery round to lob into the already shell-shocked enemy's camp. Except, this round is a bit of a dud and rather than trying to damage the enemy, it's really the right's most fervent supporters who are being targeted. Yet, the response of the religious right is predictable and it reminds me of a nearby tourist attraction.

Just few miles from where I sit typing this lies a 2,200 pound monument to the human race's capacity to be led around by the nose with their beliefs. The Cardiff Giant has been billed as the greatest hoax ever conceived. The giant was created by NY tobacconist and atheist George Hull after a disagreement with a local Methodist minister over Biblical literalism. The argument was over a specific passage, Genesis 6:4:

6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Hull later claimed that it was immediately after that argument that he conceived of the notion of the statue and paid to have it carved. Hull colluded with another local, farmer William C. "Stub" Newell, to have it buried behind his barn. Newell's workers "discovered" the gypsum statue the next spring while digging a well.

The speculation over the origins of the "giant" ran wild right from the start with a group of Biblical literalists known collectively as the "petrificationists" arguing that the statue was the petrified remains of one of the giants mentioned in the Bible. No one seemed to notice that the giant bore a remarkable resemblance to George Hull, as it well should -- Hull had the statue carved in his likeness!

Not long after the discovery of the giant, a group of Syracuse businessmen paid Hull $37,500 for the rights to display the statue whereupon it went on tour of NY State, but not before Othniel C. Marsh, a paleontologist from Yale visited the statue. Marsh of course pointed out the deception right away noting in particular the chisel marks.

That didn't stop the popularity of the giant though. People even began referring to it as "old hoaxey" and still the crowds came. So many so that PT Barnum offered the syndicate of Syracuse investors $60,000 for the rights to a three month tour with the giant. Barnum was turned down, but undeterred. Barnum had his own giant made out of plaster and, although it looked almost nothing like it, was soon drawing bigger crowds than the original fraud!

Over time George Hull was to repeatedly testify (in court even) to his part in the fraud and while it's clear that for the most part the giant was a fad there was a certain percentage of the population who believed in the giant as confirmation of their belief in the literal interpretation of the Bible.

Christmas has become the Cardiff Giant of conservative Christians. Arguably their most holy day, any whisper against it, real or imagined and they instantly rally. Even when a large percentage of them know it's all a hoax. Cooked up in the twisted minds of the right wing meme machine, the very idea of anyone trying to stop them from celebrating the birth of their saviour is enough to cause some rabid Christians discomfort. They allow their opinion to be molded to that which is desired by those who would distort the truth. You know, just in case. After all, those secular humanists and atheists don't really believe in god, so how can we trust them?

I know I've said it before, but it is time for all Christians of conscience to call the right wing on their bullshit. They are the ones perverting your holy days. And, even the simple touching message depicted in the animated holiday special A Charlie Brown Christmas has been twisted. Today, it is the those who claim to defend your sacred traditions that are the most intent on commercializing Christmas. It's time to exercise the natural sagacity given to you by your creator. Don't let them sell you another gypsum giant.

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