If a Christian wants to wish me a Merry Christmas, I've got no problem with that. I must admit though, that I prefer Happy Holidays because it better reflects the diversity of holidays at this time of year. We've got not only Christmas, but also Yule, Diwali, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, to name a few. Christians who want to make it solely about their holiday should realize that and not get their knickers in a twist when someone says "Happy Holidays" or wishes them greetings according to their non-Christian beliefs.

And Lepidopteryx, I know what you mean! I've tried explaining to people how Samhain is a day for honoring our ancestors, celebrating the last harvest, and saying goodbye to the spirits of those who have crossed over this year, but they still act like I'm going to be siccing curses on them and having animal sacrifices by the light of the moon....

If they want to keep Christmas as their religious holiday, then they can knock themselves out. All I ask is that non-Christians' holidays at least be acknowledged.

Blessed Yule, everyone!

rwhiteharvey :
RE: the views expressed by atheists and others that there should not state-sanctioned holidays based on one religion. I agree. You are quite right on both legal and moral grounds.

The point of the article is that non-Christians would be free of the preferential treatment of the majority religion in a national observance. Christians would be free of bureaucrats and others taking the Christ out of Christmas. Merchants would still get to have their all-important orgy of commerce. On separation, merchants would get to keep the December 25th day, while Christians would keep the Christmas name. No one really benefits from the present situation.

I don't think that Christians and non-Christians need to be at odds on this one. If persons of any faith or no faith were free to take a couple of "Spiritual" days off per year, they could use the days for Christmas and Good Friday, or Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, or the beginning and end of Ramadan, or for a Buddhist retreat in the Catskills, or for fishing and camping in Idaho.
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I have suggested this idea to two different administrations in my state, since both Good Friday and Christmas Day are state holidays, for which all state employees receive administrative leave - ie, the time off is not deducted from their personal leave balance. But if I want to take off for one of MY holy days, it is deducted from my personal leave. Seems to me that if government agencies simply allotted every employee x number of days of non-specific administrative leave, then Christians could use it to take off Good Friday, Christmas Day, etc., those of other faiths could use it for their holy days, and those of no faith could use it when they just needed some down time.

I have never gotten a response.

Here's an idea - how about Christians acknowledge that other faiths have holidays and holy days in December and that the fact that they do is not a slap in the face to Christianity. Christmas is INCLUDED in the "holidays" part of "Happy Holidays."

The traditions that so many people, including Christians, associate with Christmas (decorated trees, holly wreaths, mistletoe,exchanging of wrapped gifts, caroling, bells, candles, bonfires, etc.) have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. They all originated with the Pagan celebration of the winter solstice. So Christians needn't complain about "Christmas trees" being marketed as "holiday trees." Trees were being decorated in December long before the birth of Ieshua.

This Pagan doesn't get upset when certain Christians with whom I am acquainted tell me "Merry Christmas." Funny, though, how, if at the end of October, I wish these same Christians a "Blessed Samhain," they come unhinged.

RE: the views expressed by atheists and others that there should not state-sanctioned holidays based on one religion. I agree. You are quite right on both legal and moral grounds.

The point of the article is that non-Christians would be free of the preferential treatment of the majority religion in a national observance. Christians would be free of bureaucrats and others taking the Christ out of Christmas. Merchants would still get to have their all-important orgy of commerce. On separation, merchants would get to keep the December 25th day, while Christians would keep the Christmas name. No one really benefits from the present situation.

I don't think that Christians and non-Christians need to be at odds on this one. If persons of any faith or no faith were free to take a couple of "Spiritual" days off per year, they could use the days for Christmas and Good Friday, or Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, or the beginning and end of Ramadan, or for a Buddhist retreat in the Catskills, or for fishing and camping in Idaho.

America was the last major Christian nation to even recognize Christmas. Some states only made it a holiday in the 20th Century. Yet today people act as if traditions started by Dickens, Irving and Walt Disney are inextricably tied to the Gospel of Luke.

DMZ1:

After crying 76% Christians are imposing their holiday on others, 15% atheists would like to impose THEIR idea of how many holidays the nation should have on the 76% population?

Wow!

Christian: (78.5%)
Protestant (51.3%)
Roman Catholic (23.9%)
Mormon (1.7%)
other Christian (1.6%)
unaffiliated (12.1%)
none (4%)
other or unspecified (2.5%)
Jewish (1.7%)
Buddhist (0.7%)
Muslim (0.6%)

Actually, the unaffiliated population is larger than the atheist population.

politicallycorrect....:

The U.S. is about 75% Christian. That means there are 75 million non-Christians of which atheists are the largest group. I am an atheist.

That said, I don't care when you have your holy day. It just shouldn't be a national holiday. No national holidays should have anything to do with any religion. The government of the U.S. has no business taking any position whatever on the existence of god or any other religious thing. Christmas is the only religious holiday. It should be eliminated as a national holiday.

Frankly, I think more Christian isolationism (And let's face it, a move like that isn't going to happen) is entirely from the purpose of having a public holiday season at all. Christians are perfectly free to be as religious as they like about the winter holiday season, or not, as they like.

Non-Christians didn't make of the holiday this binge of consumerism: it's silly to pretend anyone did that but you.

The winter holidays are an ideal time to be *sharing* traditions, not pretending it should be some kind of territory-marking in a 'culture war' or that anyone's taking anything away from you by not pretending to be Christian.

lincolnnebr :

Watch the well-researched Birth of Jesus documentary by National Geographic and get back to us.

Creative and intriguing. Recent computer models have shown the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter ( the Christmas Star) as having occurred June 17th 2BC. Moving it again and possibly expanding the joy shouldn't be such an issue.
It's always been a good idea to stretch the 'Happiest Time of the Year' over the twelve days. This is not only inclusive but allows us to take advantage of the post-Christmas sales.
Maybe we can just move Hannakah too(and grant them an extra day to boot...) and blend them together. America is after all the greatest dysfunctional blended family of all.
Love and Joy!

In response to CCNL, so the author is supposed to agree with one magazine / tv program's opinion before writing another column? That there were no shepherds or wise men? Most Christians would disagree with that opinion. And the four gospels do not all cover the exact same events. In fact, the Gospel of John is unique from the other three in most of its coverage. But they all blend together very well.

"Christmas" is the birthday of the Unconquered Sun, the great soul from whom all life descends. If the Christians want to borrow a bit of Sol's shine for their newborn king, that's OK; they too are born of the sun's tears.

A happy Yule to all.

Just how many Jews, Hindus, Muslims and pagans are there in the US?

What stops non-Christians from joining in the celebrations and fun (minus the religious aspect)?

apple92681:

Why not just do what the Latin countries do and celebrate Christ's birth on January 6th as a religious holiday?

Let Dec. 25th be "Winter Night" as it is still reffered to in Germany and Scandinavia.

December 12, 2008 5:07 PM

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Eastern Orthodox celebrate Christmas on 6th January. Russian Orthodox celebrate on 7th January. The Roman Catholic Church which is Latin, celebrates Christmas on 25th December. With 1.3 billion Catholics around the world that makes for quite a number. All Protestant denominations celebrate Christmas on 25th December as well. The British Empire made it an (almost) worldwide holiday.

Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the three German speaking countries of Europe, celebrate 24th evening as "Holy Evening" (Heilige Abend) when they go to Mass/Church service and exchange presents, sing carols, eat Christmas cake and cookies, and have a rather simple meal together. The first Christmas Day is the 25th December, and the Christmas lunch is the grand meal, and the second Christmas Day is the 26th. (It is not known as Boxing Day.)

So you see they celebrate for two and a half days, each day is equally important.

Does political correctness go that far to accommodate, what 20% non-Christians in the US?

So faaaaaaaaaaar, that Christians must find another day to celebrate a religious holiday that has been celebrated for centuries worldwide now, and in all Christian countries is a season of festivities?

Wow!

Yeah, like that would go over...

Did you folks realize that, in Puritan England and Massachusetts Bay Colony, Christmas was banned because it was "too Pagan"? That Christmas celebrations were a major source of tension between Cromwell's Roundheads and the Cavaliers who sought to restore the Monarchy?

Also, the modern "war on Christmas" kerfuffle stems from anti-Semitic "white power" types who are afraid that immigrants and Jews are going to strip America's "Christian identity" away? Seriously. So, when people start screaming that saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" is an affront to Christians, maybe they're just being bigoted against Jews and other non-Christians who celebrate this time of year.

Merry Whatever.

The author should review National Geographic's The Birth of Jesus before writing another column. The NT and historical Jesus exegetes interviewed on the show concluded that there were no shepherds, no wisemen, and no Star over Bethlehem because Jesus was born in Nazareth. The best estimate as to date was sometime in June. Mark and John don't even mention the natavity in their gospels.

The Birth of Jesus can be seen 24/7 if you have cable TV and On-Demand service.

I mean, maybe there's a lot of Christians out there who forgot something about the Solstice holiday.... This isn't a day someone's *taking* from you, that's 'supposed' to be about fear and damnation and hairshirts and religious 'purity' and 'purging sinners' and all that usual stuff you're all about.

This holiday ...Holly-day...

*is itself a gift.* From our ancestors. To today.

People forget,

But nothing's forgotten.

Don't do this.

it ain't worth it.

Just ain't.

"And if you look into your mirror you'll see that nobody
Has ever ripped you off, it's all in your mind."

--Love and Rockets.

I mean, hey... You know all that stuff, which is most of it, that we do around Yule that doesn't seem to mean much of anything and no one knows how it's supposed to connect to Jesus in the first place?

It makes sense to someone.

Best not to push it if you really don't want to know who 'stole' what.

"Despite the absurdity of having nations adopt a religious holiday and then purge its religious identity,"

Where in the Holy Holly Hel do you think the Christianized Roman Empire got Christmas in the *first* place?

Gods.

Peace on Earth or something.

Why not just do what the Latin countries do and celebrate Christ's birth on January 6th as a religious holiday?

Let Dec. 25th be "Winter Night" as it is still reffered to in Germany and Scandinavia.

LOVE it! Blessed Yule!