The War on Christmas...

[Sanguvixen]

Now you all may or may not know this buch a group of Evengalical Christians sometime last year became very rabid when many sellers of consumer goods and services began saying "Happy Holidays" over "Merry Christmas".

The places such as Wal-Mart, Target, and such claim that since not all people belong to a Christian Faith, it would only be more respectful to people of all faiths to say "Happy Holidays"

Those Evangelical Christians have become quite persistant in that they "Are the most discrimated group in America." and that "It is discrimatory against Christians to "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."

Now of that action has come two things I have observed. One is a large increase is certain thiests starting to blab endlessly that "Athiests and people who are not of the Christian faith should not celebrate any part of Christmas." The other would be the increasingly heated debate of wether or not those shops should really say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays."

Now my question to all of you is what do you think of this?

What is your view on those people who claim that since "Christmas is a Christian Holiday celebrating the birth of thier savior, only Christains should celebrate it.

What also is your view on this whole "War against Christmas"?

Who is the real enemy of "Christmas" or is there no enemy at all?

I've provided enough topic information so..Discuss!

 

[PickleBoy]

I think thats just ridiculous. First of all, Christ supposivedly wasn't born in winter anyways. Secondly, there are so many other faiths out there, which have a lot more followers (in the world at least) than christianity that they really shouldn't make a hubbub unless they want to be seen as the next taliban. Oh wait...

And I personally say that I am celebrating the Winter Solstice. Since ya know, it is. So if they don't want me celebrating Christmas, well they can go suck on an egg for all I care.  

[puresilver]

Quote:

Now my question to all of you is what do you think of this?

I think that saying Happy Holidays IS more respectful. While I personally don't care, it is definitely more respectful to those people that do not celebrate Christmas.

Quote:

What is your view on those people who claim that since "Christmas is a Christian Holiday celebrating the birth of their savior, only Christians should celebrate it?

That's an annoying view. You don't generally need to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick's day or African to celebrate Kwanzaa (although you are usually of African descent, you by no means need to practice a traditionalist African religion).

Quote:

What also is your view on this whole "War against Christmas"?

I think that some people are delusional.

Quote:

Who is the real enemy of "Christmas" or is there no enemy at all?

Time is it's worst enemy. As time wears on, people care less and less about the religious aspects, and it becomes a holiday that everyone can enjoy. That is something that the fundamentalists DEFINATELY do not want.  

[Death God Hitsugaya]

Sanguvixen

Now you all may or may not know this buch a group of Evengalical Christians sometime last year became very rabid when many sellers of consumer goods and services began saying "Happy Holidays" over "Merry Christmas".

The places such as Wal-Mart, Target, and such claim that since not all people belong to a Christian Faith, it would only be more respectful to people of all faiths to say "Happy Holidays"

Those Evangelical Christians have become quite persistant in that they "Are the most discrimated group in America." and that "It is discrimatory against Christians to "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."

Now of that action has come two things I have observed. One is a large increase is certain thiests starting to blab endlessly that "Athiests and people who are not of the Christian faith should not celebrate any part of Christmas." The other would be the increasingly heated debate of wether or not those shops should really say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays."

Now my question to all of you is what do you think of this?

What is your view on those people who claim that since "Christmas is a Christian Holiday celebrating the birth of thier savior, only Christains should celebrate it.

What also is your view on this whole "War against Christmas"?

Who is the real enemy of "Christmas" or is there no enemy at all?

I've provided enough topic information so..Discuss!

It's still a holiday, so they should be respectful to all people. Plus, some people celebrate the idea of sharing, not Christ, like me, but everyone else in my house is a theist... Anywho... Puresilver's got it right, you don't need to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick's, and the same should go with any other nationally-accepted holiday.  

[Tenth Speed Writer]

I'm not sure who to think less of, those claiming offense for being told "Merry Christmas," or those claiming offense for those trying to cater to the first group.  

[Emmanuela]

Oh, yes, I've heard about all this and I probably shouldn't laugh but oh well..

Anyway, it probably is more respectful to non-Christians to say Happy Holidays. Why don't they say Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to keep both sects happy? Actually, if that happened you'd end up with huge posters saying "Happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy.... etc.".

As I said on my last post, Christmas is now a time to be with family and to generally be nice and happy to one another and for almost everyone I know, Christmas is about this and not about the birth of Christ. Christmas should be embraced as a time when we should forget our differences and love each other... Yeah, like that will ever happen....

War against Christmas? Hahaha... As a religious festival it's just gone down the drain, but as a feeling and idea of love then it has spread throughout the world. There is no real enemy, only people who perceive themselves as a minority and think they are beeing dicrininated against when in fact they're not and just need to see the bigger picture.  

[Xiporah]

Free s**t that I want = I celebrate it. End of explanation.

 

[Sanguvixen]

PickleBoy

I think thats just ridiculous. First of all, Christ supposivedly wasn't born in winter anyways. Secondly, there are so many other faiths out there, which have a lot more followers (in the world at least) than christianity that they really shouldn't make a hubbub unless they want to be seen as the next taliban. Oh wait...

And I personally say that I am celebrating the Winter Solstice. Since ya know, it is. So if they don't want me celebrating Christmas, well they can go suck on an egg for all I care.

Hmm..So I say Xamas, you say Winter Solstice...

Any one else have an alternate name for this winter holiday?

 

[Sanguvixen]

puresilver

Quote:

Now my question to all of you is what do you think of this?

I think that saying Happy Holidays IS more respectful. While I personally don't care, it is definitely more respectful to those people that do not celebrate Christmas.

Quote:

What is your view on those people who claim that since "Christmas is a Christian Holiday celebrating the birth of their savior, only Christians should celebrate it?

That's an annoying view. You don't generally need to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick's day or African to celebrate Kwanzaa (although you are usually of African descent, you by no means need to practice a traditionalist African religion).

Quote:

What also is your view on this whole "War against Christmas"?

I think that some people are delusional.

Quote:

Who is the real enemy of "Christmas" or is there no enemy at all?

Time is it's worst enemy. As time wears on, people care less and less about the religious aspects, and it becomes a holiday that everyone can enjoy. That is something that the fundamentalists DEFINATELY do not want.

I didn't think about that, but you may be right. Time is actually the enemy of religion so to speak...not just religious holidays.

As time wears on more and more people are turning away from religion...people are free to think now. Or at least they don't have to fear having thier head chopped off.

 

[Sanguvixen]

Tenth Speed Writer

I'm not sure who to think less of, those claiming offense for being told "Merry Christmas," or those claiming offense for those trying to cater to the first group.

I don't know either. I can only think less of those foolish enough to claim to be Christian and not know enough about thier holidays to know that Christmas is actually a stolen holiday, or even that they are celebrating the birth of thier "Savior" on the wrong day, during the wrong season.

 

[Sanguvixen]

Emmanuela

Oh, yes, I've heard about all this and I probably shouldn't laugh but oh well..

Anyway, it probably is more respectful to non-Christians to say Happy Holidays. Why don't they say Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to keep both sects happy? Actually, if that happened you'd end up with huge posters saying "Happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy.... etc.".

As I said on my last post, Christmas is now a time to be with family and to generally be nice and happy to one another and for almost everyone I know, Christmas is about this and not about the birth of Christ. Christmas should be embraced as a time when we should forget our differences and love each other... Yeah, like that will ever happen....

War against Christmas? Hahaha... As a religious festival it's just gone down the drain, but as a feeling and idea of love then it has spread throughout the world. There is no real enemy, only people who perceive themselves as a minority and think they are beeing dicrininated against when in fact they're not and just need to see the bigger picture.

Do you think that it's origins might have been non-religious?

I mean...the more I think about it, the more it makes sense that whom ever started celebrating a festival smack dab in the middle of winter might not have been doing so for Non-religious reasons.

EDIT: I made a typo....that should be "Non-religious reasons".

 

[caustic 0_0]

Sanguvixen

Emmanuela

Oh, yes, I've heard about all this and I probably shouldn't laugh but oh well..

Anyway, it probably is more respectful to non-Christians to say Happy Holidays. Why don't they say Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to keep both sects happy? Actually, if that happened you'd end up with huge posters saying "Happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy.... etc.".

As I said on my last post, Christmas is now a time to be with family and to generally be nice and happy to one another and for almost everyone I know, Christmas is about this and not about the birth of Christ. Christmas should be embraced as a time when we should forget our differences and love each other... Yeah, like that will ever happen....

War against Christmas? Hahaha... As a religious festival it's just gone down the drain, but as a feeling and idea of love then it has spread throughout the world. There is no real enemy, only people who perceive themselves as a minority and think they are beeing dicrininated against when in fact they're not and just need to see the bigger picture.

Do you think that it's origins might have been non-religious?

I mean...the more I think about it, the more it makes sense that whom ever started celebrating a festival smack dab in the middle of winter might not have been doing so for religious reasons.

||_______________________

I've always heard that winter was picked for the time to celebrate christ's birth because they wanted to correlate with other pagan winter traditions. So if you convert you don't celebrate the winter solstice but you celebrate the christian savior's birth.
I also found this site today that links it to other religions which already used the solstice because of being appropriate for gods associated with the sun due to more daylight after the solstice. :0

I really don't think that for most people the holiday is celebrated with any clear religious association until they specifically go to a church for mass or something. Most people focus entirely on the materialistic side anyways. Saying it's just for christians is useless when a lot of christians don't focus on the 'christian' aspect.

_______________________||

 

[Sanguvixen]

c a u s t i c

Sanguvixen

Emmanuela

Oh, yes, I've heard about all this and I probably shouldn't laugh but oh well..

Anyway, it probably is more respectful to non-Christians to say Happy Holidays. Why don't they say Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to keep both sects happy? Actually, if that happened you'd end up with huge posters saying "Happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy.... etc.".

As I said on my last post, Christmas is now a time to be with family and to generally be nice and happy to one another and for almost everyone I know, Christmas is about this and not about the birth of Christ. Christmas should be embraced as a time when we should forget our differences and love each other... Yeah, like that will ever happen....

War against Christmas? Hahaha... As a religious festival it's just gone down the drain, but as a feeling and idea of love then it has spread throughout the world. There is no real enemy, only people who perceive themselves as a minority and think they are beeing dicrininated against when in fact they're not and just need to see the bigger picture.

Do you think that it's origins might have been non-religious?

I mean...the more I think about it, the more it makes sense that whom ever started celebrating a festival smack dab in the middle of winter might not have been doing so for Non-religious reasons.

||_______________________

I've always heard that winter was picked for the time to celebrate christ's birth because they wanted to correlate with other pagan winter traditions. So if you convert you don't celebrate the winter solstice but you celebrate the christian savior's birth.
I also found this site today that links it to other religions which already used the solstice because of being appropriate for gods associated with the sun due to more daylight after the solstice. :0

I really don't think that for most people the holiday is celebrated with any clear religious association until they specifically go to a church for mass or something. Most people focus entirely on the materialistic side anyways. Saying it's just for christians is useless when a lot of christians don't focus on the 'christian' aspect.

_______________________||

I made a little typo so you may want to rethink or retype your reply to that. At the end I put Religious...and it should have been "Non-Religious Reasons"

That is well known that they chose that time of the winter to try to overlap a pagan holiday and thus in a way help thier crusade to convert people.

What I am wondering...is that who ever first celebrating a holiday similar to the Pagan holiday, and similary to the Christian version...I wonder if it was non-religous?

Maybe the idea came to someone that it might be a way to lift people's spirits during a difficult time of year if they were to have a festival filled with good food, togetherness, family, friends, and gifts. If so it would have probably caught on...and eventually evolved to have religious attachments.

 

[Muaethia]

Quote:

"Christmas is a Christian Holiday celebrating the birth of thier savior, only Christains should celebrate it." Discuss.

Sounds like an essay question xD

Christmas isn't about christ any more. Sure, it's commercialised and stressful. But when it comes to the day, it's just a harmless family tradition. For me, it's the celebration of the end of the year! I've always seen it like that. There's christmas (celebrating the end of an old year), the days inbetween to live as you wouldn't normally by eating and drinking yourself sick, having shiney new things to play with and seeing people you don't usually see, then there's New Year to celebrate the coming of a new year. For me, christmas wouldn't be the same it it were in like february or something. I just see it as an extended New Year.  

[E_Night]

Okay I'm the bestest holiday present you could ever wish for aint I? I just say happy holidays and no one gets mad. Some say merry christmas to me. I dont care. Winter is supposed to be a happy time and I don't want to get all political with the "santa" ringing the bell for money. (thats so a indian giver)
Christmas was decided on to be in the winter near the solstisce to make the pagens happy. THey could keep there traditions and still accept christianity. Compromises
yay
compromises,
boo
christians.
yay
E_night!