Real “war on Christmas” in Saudi Arabia

This has probably been done by a myriad other bloggers who follow these sorts of things, but it bears repeating. For all the privilege-soaked Christianists in the U.S. (and elsewhere) who see any reminder that their faith isn’t the law of the land as an affront to their religious liberty, it’s easy to forget – for we comparatively lucky ones – that while the “war on Christmas” is simply nonexistent in most of the West, it’s a very real struggle in other parts of the world, namely in rigidly Islamic countries where Christians are actually persecuted:

Saudi religious police stormed a house in the Saudi Arabian province of al-Jouf, detaining more than 41 guests for “plotting to celebrate Christmas,” a statement from the police branch released Wednesday night said.

The raid is the latest in a string of religious crackdowns against residents perceived to threaten the country's strict religious code.

The report is vague about the outcome of the raid (namely if anyone will be put on trail or such), though it sounds like most of the guests have since been released. But at any rate, this is something else to keep in mind the next time some whiny church leader or perennial malcontent tries to compare Western Christians to Nazi-era Jews because a court points out that it’s against the law to put sectarian symbols on government property.

(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)