Down in Texas, they had a holiday parade, and the atheists showed up — not to be mean, not to beat up Christians, not to stink up the event with doom and gloom and cynicism, but to celebrate the Christmas season.

18 people made up the Atheist Vuvuzela Marching Band which paraded down Texas Avenue while playing “Jingle Bells” on vuvuzela horns.

News 3 spoke with the leader of the group who said they weren’t protesting Christmas or the parade but were there to announce their presence in the community.

…

“We just wanted to say hey, were here, its’ ok, you know. We didn’t intend to be specifically offensive to anyone you know we just wanted to say we’re here too,” said Keri Bean of the Brazos Valley Atheist Vuvuzela Marching Band.

Bean organized the Brazos Valley Vuvuzela Marching Band and said they chose to perform “Jingle Bells” to stay with the Christmas spirit of the parade.

“When we were walking around we would say, ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah’, ‘Merry Kwanzaa’, there’s a whole bunch of different holidays that happen now, so we wanted to make sure that everyone was represented,” Bean said.

Good for them. That’s exactly what we should do: have a good time, adopt good traditions like midwinter festivals as our own, and join in with the community. No one can complain about that, can they? Well, maybe the vuvuzelas were in poor taste, but otherwise they were just being enthusiastic and participatory.

It is no surprise at all that some people were upset. Not at the vuvuzelas, either. Here are some of the responses they got.

“Wasn’t exactly happy about the Christmas Parade this year, I spent many years teaching my children to love and respect other people and to love the fact that they were children of God and I don’t feel that they should be influenced in any other way especially not at a Christmas parade,” said Tina Corgey, who is a lifelong Bryan resident.

Corgey brings her three kids to the B/CS Christmas Parade every year.

She said she was disgusted by what she saw on Sunday.

“If you have younger children they weren’t going to understand but I have older children, a teenager, 8-year-old and they were curious and they asked questions and it was hard for them to believe and understand that there are actually people out there that don’t believe in God,” Corgey said.

Who’s the nasty, cynical bigot stinking up the event? A Christian, of course.

The media isn’t helping, either. They’ve got a poll with an awesomely stupid question, something I wouldn’t have thought would even be considered…but of course it will be.

Should Non-Christian Groups Be Allowed to Participate In the B-CS Christmas Parade?

Yes 57.5%
No 43.0%

I think what would make the parade better is if they excluded the cranky Christians. And vuvuzelas, too.