A friend recently forwarded a chain letter that was all in a huff about the current re-issue of the USPS stamp commemorating EID. The Snopes article reprints the letter and some of it's variations. After thinking about it, I responded with the following:
I've seen this letter and it's assertions often since the first issue in 2001 (34¢). Unfortunately, the first issue was on August 1, 2001, a month prior to the 9/11 attacks. It has been reissued several times since, each time there is a rate adjustment many stamp designs are reissued in the new rate. The EID, in addition to the 2001 issue was reissued in 2002 (37¢), 2006 (39¢), 2007 (41¢), 2008 (42¢) and the latest reissue this year. Each time these chain letters go around trying to get people to "forward" in protest. All it ends up becoming is an ego trip for those behind the email.
The assertion that the US is a "Christian" nation, in these times, is, in my humble opinion, a stretch. While the US had it's birth and founding rooted in Christianity and Biblical principals, I would have to say, despite the assertion of many, we are not a Christian nation, or even a nation of Christians. We are a nation of many who claim the name of Christ, but do not follow His principals or base our lives on His.
That desire to follow Him and live our lives according to His principals is the basis of Christianity, not any historical connection to the past. Let's face it, nations cannot be "Christian," only individuals. Jesus didn't come and die to save a nation, he came to bring eternal life and relationship to each of us "individually." And, it is His coming to become the conduit of that provision of eternal life and relationship with the Father that we celebrate at this time of the year.
Relatively few US citizens truly follow Jesus as He would have us. Were we to suffer the same persecutions and challenges to our faith that our fellow believers overseas suffer, I dare say most of us who claim His name would fail miserably. Not unlike Peter we would curse Him and "save our skins."
But back on subject. There are a number of holiday stamps issued and sold each year at this time. The two new issue Christmas stamps are the Madonna and Sleeping Child based on the 17th century art of Giovanni Battista Salvi, and the Winter Holidays stamps. Reissued are the EID, Kwanza and Hanukkah stamps. There are also several older stamps series still available. See: USPS Holiday Stamps
So, in my opinion, the issue of the EID stamp is of about as much significance as the issue, and reissue of Elvis stamps (the record holder of the most stamps purchased), Star Wars or The Simpsons.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
