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The Spectacle Blog
Is Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee planning to change the name of the state’s capital city?
Chafee is in the news for insisting that the Christmas tree in the state capitol be renamed a “holiday tree,” apparently doing the Politically Correct Thing in the War on Christmas and trying not to offend with the Christian nature of the title.
But the tree renaming decision opens the door to another problem.
The capital city of Rhode Island, named by Founder Roger Williams is… ahhhh…”Providence.”
Providence? Yes. “Providence”… as in the description, found in any biographical sketch of Roger Williams, that says he “named his settlement Providence in thanks to God.” (Like this bio supplied by the Roger Williams Family Association)
Uh-oh.
Are there no Muslims in Providence or all of Rhode Island? No Buddhists? No Hindus? No Atheists? To have a state capital named Providence as a daily reminder of giving thanks to the Christian God is a tad more of a problem than that of an annual tree in the state capital, no?
So we have contacted Governor Chafee to see when he plans to support renaming Providence and what his choices might be. “Williams”? Or maybe “RogerThat”? We received a polite automatic thank you, but no word on the scandalous fact that the state capital is named quite specifically to thank the Father of Jesus Christ.
On the other hand, what would Lincoln Chafee do if he were Governor of Minnesota and worked in St. Paul?
View all comments (11) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Jeffrey Lord
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/12/02/chafee-to-rename-rhode-island
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RJ| 12.2.11 @ 2:20PM
If Link Chafee is like other politicians, the capital's new name will be Chafee.
Rogue Elephant| 12.2.11 @ 2:50PM
Yawn.
Al Adab| 12.2.11 @ 2:54PM
Let's see:
Las Cruces
Los Angeles
Corpus Christi
Christchurch (NZ)
Bethlehem (PA)
Zion Natl. Park
Where would he like to stop?
Narf!| 12.2.11 @ 2:57PM
The "war on Christmas" is very real. We cannot allow liberals to have their way on this one, not when the true meaning of Christmas is at stake.
At our house we will have a Christmas tree. Not a "holiday" tree or a "yule" tree whatever that means.
It will have Christmas presents under it. The kids know better than to call them "holiday" presents. Who says that? They are Christmas presents.
Not a single one of those presents will have been purchased at a so-called "Holiday sale" -- if a store wants my business they'll need to call it a Christmas sale and if I walk in the door and someone says "Happy Holidays" I'm turning around and going back to the car.
And we'll sing Christmas carols. We wish you a merry Christmas. Rocking around the Christmas tree. I'll be home for Christmas. The twelve days of Christmas. When does Rudolph lead the way? One foggy Christmas eve.
If we don't draw the line here, then before you know it the PC police will want to replace Santa Claus with Chubby Solstice Man or something.
rnd| 12.3.11 @ 1:04AM
Narf, good for you! (I will copy-cat, if I may. I now, too, will do an about face and depart any shop or store in which Christmas has been so obviously and vigorously whitewashed away.)
Please know; however, that the U.S. military has already caved to the PC-speak cretins. What used to be Christmas Balls or Christmas Season Banquets are now Winter Balls or Holiday Banquets.
So, obviously now, no Bible references made. I think that they try to remove any prayers before the meals. Even silly, non faith songs like the "12 Days of Christmas" are now taboo --- even though any Christian can tell you that this is not a faith-centric Christmas season song.
Finally, in this discussion of our foundation of faith being removed block by block, brick by brick: If you have served then you know the last four words of every oath ever taken. I ask, how long before these four words are also removed?
bobmontgomery| 12.2.11 @ 4:54PM
Time for local officials to start pulling Ten Commandments plaques out of storage and putting them back up in the courthouse square. Oh, shoot, posse comitatus has been suspended, hasn't it? Well, maybe it's time to see who's more committed.
Russell| 12.3.11 @ 12:49AM
If Providence inspired Jeffrey to adopt a more secular moniker, like Serf, Rhode Island traditionalists might ask him up to nail himself to the old colony's Yule Log of Woe.
rnd| 12.3.11 @ 12:56AM
Mr. Lord, the word providence also refers to the beneficence of God Almighty, the Heavenly Father that the Jewish people worship. El Shaddai. Please correct your statement.
You may write this article in jest. Or because you have nothing better to do. Do not make light of this issue. I do expect the anti-Judeo-Christian mental and moral wayward wanderers to take umbrage to this Rhode Island city name.
You don't?
This is no light or trifling matter. Just as a hair dying Chafee tries in vein to portray himself as what he is not (hiding the real, revealing the false), so to do the outrage/offended/tolerance/coexist/respect trons, as they erode and implode the foundation which offers their only hope for salvation.
MarkJ| 12.4.11 @ 4:30PM
Lincoln Chaffee: Living proof that wisdom and intelligence are no longer barriers to a long and lucrative career in Rhode Island politics.
mjd| 12.4.11 @ 11:00PM
Does not Lincoln “The Missing Link” Chafee know that “holiday” tree is also a politically incorrect anti-multicultural name for “Christmas” tree.
“Holiday” is derived from “holy day” which was used in England probably from the middle ages to mean “holy days” on the calendar of the Catholic Church. Other religions have their religious holy days but “holiday” as we use it today is derived from holy days denoting holy days on the calendar of the Catholic Church. With Henry VIII’s break from the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, the “High” Anglican Church likely continued to use “holy days” though “Low” Anglicans, Separatists and other Protestant sects in England likely abandoned use of the term "holy day" because they did not want to use or copy any practices or vestiges of the Catholic Church.