Not even Halloween and it's starting already.

to idiot fundamentalists who have the bizarre notion that Christmas is under attack.

Or maybe you should express shock and outrage that people of faith aren't being allowed to worship as they wish and say yeah, you'd noticed all the closed and shuttered churches and what a shame. And then say something like, since you're a tree worshiping Druid yourself, maybe the friend would like to come along with you to the grove of trees you normally worship in.

I only wish there were a war on the commercialism of Christmas. For the past three years now I haven't bothered with putting up a tree or all my usual decorations and it's been quite liberating. We still exchange presents in my household, and I enjoy visiting others who engage in traditional Christmas stuff, and since I don't hang with any fundies I don't have the religious aspect of Christmas (which I fully respect) shoved down my throat. I simply choose to do Christmas my own way and wish the fundies would do the same.

Just my kids, Dad and Special lady. Normally all They get are Gift Certificates. That's it. No tree. No lights, no decorations. It is liberating. The lack of stress in not trying to please a bunch of people you don't have that much to do with the rest of the year. Of not going into a debt that takes 6 months to recover from. Christmas is a Republican Holiday. Let them celebrate it. My Christmas is now a Liberal Holiday. Just Family and a few friends and good food.
Happy Holidays.

...as a chrsitian I am offended with the idea that there is a war on anything christian. I am offended because, as a person of faith, if there is a war on faith it appears to me there is a war on anything in this country that is not christian. I have friends of almost all the major faiths and they do not get the consideration my faith does even in the law for their major religious holidays. We don't see any national holiday for the end of Ramadan, Passover, or any other non-christian holiday, now do we (paid in many cases)? Even Halloween is "christian" in that is is based on "All Saints Day" a Christian invention based on pagan belief.

As for the commercialization of Christmas, to me the screaming ads, the garish colors and calls for buying is cheapening the heart of that holiday. It is disgusting as to how it uses religion to make money, it is an excuse for the most blatant display of greed there is. Most thoughtful Christians might say the Passover/Easter holiday is the most sacred, yet it barely gets a blip. My church observes Passover because as my minster says, "Jesus was a devout Jew, so should I be!"

But I digress. This lament about Christmas is just an excuse for the religious fundies to "forget" the most important teaching of Jesus: that greed is one of the worse sins there is. He said, "It is harder for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle ..." (Matthew 19). Many fundamentalists try to rationalize this saying by sermonizing that Jerusalem once had a gate called "the Eye Of the Needle" which was only high enough for a man to pass through and way too small for a camel. Thus a camel would have to pass through it by getting down on its knees to make it through. In other words, they rationalize that a rich person, as long as they "stay on their knees" is perfectly within their rights to steal "~ as long as it is "legally" done within the law, overcharge, force people to work for nothing, overlook the almost slave-like conditions that created the crap they buy, all in the name of "commercialism", and this is perfectly fine. But this is not what Jesus taught.

My point here is that many (especially) fundamentalists have purposefully overlooked that greed is a sin ~ but God forbid if you sleep with anyone you are not married to ~ especially if that person is of the same sex! Jesus never said one word about being gay, but he said lots of things about being greedy. Greed is what cause wars, famine, poverty and misery. Yet these people would rather pretend that avarice is nothing, while they get all in a tizzy about who is sleeping with whom and the fake war on Christmas.

The war on greed should be what they fight, not no stinkin' war on Christmas, if they are a thoughtful believer, IMO. And yes Christmas in the way the modern world celebrates it should be abolished. After we have cleansed this holiday of its needless gaudiness and glitz, then we should also be honoring Passover and Ramadan. Maybe to a fundie it is war to do this, but I know Jesus was a good Jew AND he was very tolerant of other religions. As a Christian myself I believe anyone who celebrates that holiday the way we have been is an abomination. Most of all, we should not make Christmas a national holiday unless we honor ALL religious holidays. Period!

And you can pass this on to your friend!

My 2 cents

Cat In Seattle

But they never listen. The whole idea of fundamentalist abrahamism - whether Chrisitanity, Judaism, or Islam - is the need to feel victimized. Fundies of these religions will concoct any greviance they can possibly rationalize, in order to demand "victim" status so they can win sympathy and many legislative action to "protect" their religion - in other words, to enshrine it. Thus, when we don't let Chrisitans put up Baby Lightbulbhead in the arms of Mother Madeinchina in fromt of every town hall in the nation, it's a "War on Christianity"