The war against "the war against Chrismas" --

-- well, to be fair, the Xtian Wingers are between a rock and a hard place.

The fact is that our society has come to celebrate a winter holiday that is centered on giving. It celebrates the joy of giving, the joy of being loved by the giver, and the spirit of generousity and joy that survives the onset of winter weather and, by that survival, heralds the coming of spring. This is not the same thing as "commercialization," and in fact "commercialization" is just the easy way out for the giver. Quite the contrary: it is a beautiful celebration, and it is celebrated by all kinds of people. For most of us, the date corresponds to the date of the mass of Jesus' nativity, Dec. 25, and fourth-generation unbelievers like me shamelessly call it "Christmas" and borrow those aspects of the nativity that symbolize generousity, such as the Gift of the Magi. Many Christians quite knowingly celebrate the holiday of generousity along with their remembrance of the birth of the protagonist of their story -- knowing, I mean, that they are two separate good things. Others, finding too much of Christianity in the Dec. 25 date for their comfort, shift the date when necessary to correspond to their own religious holidays (Hannukah) or adapt it to a holiday that supports other values and ethincity as well (Kwanzaa). This latter fact makes it a bit gauche just to wish "Merry Christmas" and leads to "happy holidays" and such.

The dilemma for the winger Xians is this. On the one hand, if people do as I do, simply call it Christmas although we do not celebrate the nativity of a Jewish Peasant who may or may not have existed, then the winger Xians lose their property rights in Christmas as a religious holiday and only a religious holiday. So long as they can "keep Christ in Christmas" they can keep those once-a-year churchgoers coming in and not lose their grip on them entirely. On the other hand, if we nonChristians stop calling the giving holiday Christmas and start just saying "the holiday season," then Christmas loses its significance entirely for a large segment of the population. Therefore, they cannot permit anybody else to have a winter holiday, and they are doing their best to prevent it.

But they cannot succeed -- the giving holiday is too beautiful to be given up and is irrepressible. Poor babies -- just can't win for losin'.

Some fundies have further muddied their water because of a long standing antipathy with Christmas as she is celebrated in this Country and feel, (like our first non-Native citizens) that the Christmas celebration itself is sinful.

To wish a non-Christian a "Happy Holiday" is to acknowledge that their "holiday" is "holy" and therefore Divinely Sanctioned. In other words, you are practically worshiping their god.

That is the message they are trying to send-- "Your days are not 'holy days' and your beliefs have no value."

Merry fucking Xmas.


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See below:

The press statement the Target store chain is sending out is, to borrow from Master Card, priceless. This is the same company that kicked the Salvation Army bell ringers out from in front of their stores last year, you may remember. They say the reasonthey don’t have any references to Christmas in their stores is because, “Our holiday merchandise selection includes Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanza merchandise…”

Kwanza(sic) merchandise? Give me a break. To use the word Kwanza in the same sentence with Christmas when you are talking about American culture is utterly ridiculous. The vast majority of people in this country don’t even know what Kwanza is (a secular celebration of African culture), much less what Kwanza “merchandise” is.

Christmas is a federal holiday. It has been since the year 1870. It is only recently that anyone had a problem with it. And remember, without Jesus Christ, there would be no Christmas to secularize.

-- Tim Wildmon

More:
http://www.alittlemoretotheright.com/blog/?p=589\

who believes everything is holy, and all things are God. Ho Metaquiatson!

my point was to reflect on the reasons. In a little detail.

Uh, WRONG Wildmon. It was a Pagan holiday long before there was a Jesus Christ.

I have not heard anybody, including fundies, complain about people of other traditions celebrating their own festivals. Frankly, I don't think they give a shit what they do. They just think, rightly or wrongly, that they are being shut out and are hollering about it.

If I am wrong, and there are attempts to suppress other holidays in the public square, I would like to know about them. I could use some info in some 'discussions" that I'm having with my nutso brother-in-law.

an artificial wedge issue.

But perhaps it has taken hold because, frankly, sometimes political correctness can be a bit extreme and this is a backlash against it.

The pendulum, she swing...

about the backlash. This has been building for some time, IMO.

:woohoo: