Earlier today a devout Christian woman I know was complaining about how the government, Commie Pagans that they are, has systematically taken Christ out of Christmas. Specifically, she was upset over the replacement of "Happy Holidays" for the "Merry Christmas" greeting that we should all be uttering. And that Obama guy is one of the worst offenders of them all; he sent out season's greetings holiday cards that said nothing about Christmas.
There was no willingness on her part to acknowledge any other religion or holiday taking place during this time of year. She explains that Christ is the only God and generic greetings such as, "happy holidays" is a slap in the face to God and Christians everywhere because it deliberately chooses to disregard the point of the holiday season, which of course, is celebrating the savior's birthday.
The ignorance and the arrogance! Baffling to me is the notion that a generic pleasantry should be viewed as an attack on those who are [theoretically] already saved. Honestly, get over yourself. "Happy Holidays" is a perfectly appropriate greeting to say to anyone in a government office, public building, or to anyone whose holiday preference is not known.
Here in the U.S. we have a little thing called separation between church and state - and the battle over religion's role in holiday celebrations is nearly three decades old, regardless of how much someone may want to blame Obama. It began when the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups went to court in the 1980s asking that Nativity scenes and other religious displays be removed from public property. The ACLU argued that such religious symbols violated the First Amendment's ban on government-endorsed religion.
In a CNN/USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, 44% of Americans surveyed said the trend toward "Happy Holidays" is a change for the better, and 43% said it wasn't. Only 11%, however, said they avoid saying "Merry Christmas" out of fear of offending someone.
The threat of lawsuits and a desire to be more sensitive to the nation's growing number of non-Christians has led many governments, schools and businesses to de-emphasize the religious elements of the Christmas holiday.
Statistics
A USA Today/Gallup Poll in 2002-JAN showed that almost half of American adults appear to be alienated from organized religion. If current trends continue, most adults will not call themselves religious within a few years.
The Graduate Center of the City University of New York conducted an "American Religious Identification Survey", and found that the number of Americans who classified themselves as Christian declined from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2001. That number declined even further to 73% by 2004.
The United States appears to be going through an unprecedented change in religious practices. Large numbers of American adults are disaffiliating themselves from Christianity and from other organized religions. Since World War II, this process had been observed in other countries, like the U.K., other European countries, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. But, until recently, affiliation with Christianity had been at a high level -- about 87% -- and stable in the U.S.
Being sensitive to other religious preferences has nothing to do with political party persuasion. The only thing political about Christmas is the attempt to keep it out of government. And Obama's administration did not start this as I explained above. I encourage folks to go back to the history books and read up on how our founding fathers actually fled England to get away from religious oppression. Thomas Jefferson, a man of deep religious conviction, believed that the matter of faith was a personal one and did not belong in government. That is why he helped champion the 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and wrote the now-famous letter to the Danbury Baptists in Connecticut some years later. Here is a portion of it:
And please don't tell me that being Christian has nothing to do with religion. I will be charitable here and say that if you believe Christianity is not a religion you are simply attempting to recognize the ESSENCE of Christianity rather than the existence of it as a religious denomination. Within the active practice of Christianity, no thing can be Christian, only an individual can be a Christian. (Hey - if Christ is in the individual, then he surely cannot be taken out of Christmas, right? And if he is missing from Christmas, then he must be missing from your heart, right?) Ahem. I digress. Christianity, as it is recognized around the globe is part of three other religious groupings: sacramental religions, revealed religions, and salvation religions. The latter two apply most generally: it would be difficult to find any form of Christianity which does not qualify as a revealed or salvation religion, but not all forms of Christianity would be described as a sacramental one.
Ancient History describes Christianity as, "A monotheistic religion whose adherents believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God and their savior."
Websters Dictionary defines Christianity as...
You know what? I don't remember the last time I heard a Pagan complaining that the Solstice is not a national holiday. I don't believe I've ever heard a Wiccan say that spell-casting should be a part of the national lighting of the Christmas tree. And I don't believe I've ever heard a Jew say that Christmas displays should be replaced with Menorahs. Everyone, EXCEPT the Christians is just looking for equal time, equal recognition. But Christians can't give equal time because they have to be the only ones to the exclusion of everyone else.
There was no willingness on her part to acknowledge any other religion or holiday taking place during this time of year. She explains that Christ is the only God and generic greetings such as, "happy holidays" is a slap in the face to God and Christians everywhere because it deliberately chooses to disregard the point of the holiday season, which of course, is celebrating the savior's birthday.
The ignorance and the arrogance! Baffling to me is the notion that a generic pleasantry should be viewed as an attack on those who are [theoretically] already saved. Honestly, get over yourself. "Happy Holidays" is a perfectly appropriate greeting to say to anyone in a government office, public building, or to anyone whose holiday preference is not known.
Here in the U.S. we have a little thing called separation between church and state - and the battle over religion's role in holiday celebrations is nearly three decades old, regardless of how much someone may want to blame Obama. It began when the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups went to court in the 1980s asking that Nativity scenes and other religious displays be removed from public property. The ACLU argued that such religious symbols violated the First Amendment's ban on government-endorsed religion.
In a CNN/USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, 44% of Americans surveyed said the trend toward "Happy Holidays" is a change for the better, and 43% said it wasn't. Only 11%, however, said they avoid saying "Merry Christmas" out of fear of offending someone.
The threat of lawsuits and a desire to be more sensitive to the nation's growing number of non-Christians has led many governments, schools and businesses to de-emphasize the religious elements of the Christmas holiday.
Statistics
A USA Today/Gallup Poll in 2002-JAN showed that almost half of American adults appear to be alienated from organized religion. If current trends continue, most adults will not call themselves religious within a few years.
The Graduate Center of the City University of New York conducted an "American Religious Identification Survey", and found that the number of Americans who classified themselves as Christian declined from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2001. That number declined even further to 73% by 2004.
The United States appears to be going through an unprecedented change in religious practices. Large numbers of American adults are disaffiliating themselves from Christianity and from other organized religions. Since World War II, this process had been observed in other countries, like the U.K., other European countries, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. But, until recently, affiliation with Christianity had been at a high level -- about 87% -- and stable in the U.S.
Being sensitive to other religious preferences has nothing to do with political party persuasion. The only thing political about Christmas is the attempt to keep it out of government. And Obama's administration did not start this as I explained above. I encourage folks to go back to the history books and read up on how our founding fathers actually fled England to get away from religious oppression. Thomas Jefferson, a man of deep religious conviction, believed that the matter of faith was a personal one and did not belong in government. That is why he helped champion the 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and wrote the now-famous letter to the Danbury Baptists in Connecticut some years later. Here is a portion of it:
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state. [Congress thus inhibited from acts respecting religion, and the Executive authorised only to execute their acts, I have refrained from presenting even occasional performances of devotion presented indeed legally where an Executive is the legal head of a national church, but subject here, as religious exercises only to the voluntary regulations and discipline of each respective sect.] Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties."It is right around this point that Christians will balk and tell me that the United States was founded on Christian principals. No matter what you want to tell yourself, the United States is NOT a Christian nation. It is a nation of many diversities and many faiths, only one of which happens to be Christianity.
And please don't tell me that being Christian has nothing to do with religion. I will be charitable here and say that if you believe Christianity is not a religion you are simply attempting to recognize the ESSENCE of Christianity rather than the existence of it as a religious denomination. Within the active practice of Christianity, no thing can be Christian, only an individual can be a Christian. (Hey - if Christ is in the individual, then he surely cannot be taken out of Christmas, right? And if he is missing from Christmas, then he must be missing from your heart, right?) Ahem. I digress. Christianity, as it is recognized around the globe is part of three other religious groupings: sacramental religions, revealed religions, and salvation religions. The latter two apply most generally: it would be difficult to find any form of Christianity which does not qualify as a revealed or salvation religion, but not all forms of Christianity would be described as a sacramental one.
Ancient History describes Christianity as, "A monotheistic religion whose adherents believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God and their savior."
Websters Dictionary defines Christianity as...
- the religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Bible as sacred scripture, and professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant bodies;
- conformity to the Christian religion;
- the practice of Christianity
You know what? I don't remember the last time I heard a Pagan complaining that the Solstice is not a national holiday. I don't believe I've ever heard a Wiccan say that spell-casting should be a part of the national lighting of the Christmas tree. And I don't believe I've ever heard a Jew say that Christmas displays should be replaced with Menorahs. Everyone, EXCEPT the Christians is just looking for equal time, equal recognition. But Christians can't give equal time because they have to be the only ones to the exclusion of everyone else.
To the woman who complained to me earlier today and to anyone else daft enough to believe that they are the only true children of God I say this: I am content to let you have your Christianity and your faith without attempting to subvert it. All I ask is that you respect my faith and those of others in return. But no, you can't do it, you have to try to convert me and when that fails, your fall back is to pray to God that I be shone the light. Isn't it interesting that in my prayers, I never ask that you be made non-Christian. I only ask that all of us have more tolerance and acceptance for each other. Regardless of what you think I should be doing, I am not THANKING THE LORD for folks like you, ready to step in and stage a praying intervention on my behalf!
I trust in God enough to believe that my God doesn't have to be your God. Please don't embarrass yourself by telling me your God has to be mine. At this holiday season I wish Christians a merry Christmas, Jews a Happy Hanukkah, Druids a happy Winter Solstice, my African-Americans brothers and sisters a Happy Kwanzaa and my Muslim friends a blessed Ramadan.
I trust in God enough to believe that my God doesn't have to be your God. Please don't embarrass yourself by telling me your God has to be mine. At this holiday season I wish Christians a merry Christmas, Jews a Happy Hanukkah, Druids a happy Winter Solstice, my African-Americans brothers and sisters a Happy Kwanzaa and my Muslim friends a blessed Ramadan.
And anyone upset about that should consider that by about the year 2042, non-Christians will outnumber Christians in the U.S. So wake up or look back at your own peril - I hear pillars of salt are coming back in vogue.
yu couldnt have presented the issue more succsinctly. and I for one will orint this out with your permission to hand to all dersives, thankyou, and wishing u the pease and joy of all seasons.
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