Over at Gizmodo.
Hey, numbnutz. I have Christmas lights up. Last night we decorated a tree. I don’t believe in God.
[Early afternoon update]
I think that this encapsulates the problem:
I believe that the objections to “Merry Christmas” stem from a misunderstanding of the phrase. While you and I mean “Please share my joy in this wonderful season,” some interpret it to mean “Honor Christmas, you infidel!”
Some people are just wrapped too tight.
[Another update a few minutes later]
Santa’s not pagan:
While it’s absolutely true that there are sincere and committed Christophobes and joyless atheistic boobs out there, one of the major culprits is capitalism itself. I like capitalism — a lot. Heck, the best Christmas present I could get would be a Scrooge-like conversion on the part of the president after a visit from the Ghost of Socialism Past. But the downside of capitalism is that it will, eventually, encourage the commercialization of everything sacred. For instance, there’s an online “dating” company dedicated entirely to facilitating adultery. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that a holiday symbolized by a man who gives presents would be exploited. That doesn’t mean we have to surrender to the trend, but we should recognize all of the trend’s sources, not just the convenient ones.
On a different note, the supposed champions of making Christmas more “inclusive” should at least ponder the irony that they are being intolerant. If you take offense when someone says “Merry Christmas,” you, quite simply, are the jerk.
Yup.
Funny he wasn’t all bitter and butt-hurt about the snowflakes – just look at all the cross imagery embedded in the branches of a snowflake. Next he’ll be finding offensive Christian imagery in the swirl on his Burger King sundae cup lid. (“Sundae? That’s like Sunday! More Christian imagery!!1!”)
FWIW, the first time I put up lights on my house I picked white and blue ones because I liked the colors — unwittingly decorating my place for Hanukkah.
I’m not Christian, but I make it a point to say “Merry Christmas.”
We’re not doing all this stuff and buying all this stuff because it’s winter, or the solstice, or a season (one of 4, by the way) – it’s because it’s Christmas.
The anti-Christian whiners need to deal with it and STFU.
Annoy the whiners – put a 100-watt incandescent cross on top of your Christmas tree.
As an atheist who loves Christmas, I completely sympathize. That said, the very first person I wished a Merry Christmas this year was Jewish. How embarrassing!
Atheists and Christians: “Christmas can be just a fun winter holiday”
Jews: “Christmas is a Christian holiday”
(Hardly a universal truth, just a common occurrence.)
All cultures have rituals of reciprocity and gift giving. Maybe it is a throwback to our more human ancestors that rituals like this take place around similar calendar dates.
Militant atheists and other xmas haters should ask themselves what they would do to replicate this ritual of reciprocity. Rituals like this are needed an important to any culture. After tearing apart our culture, do the militant atheists plan to implement any similar rituals of gift giving? Could they really come up with something better than christmas?
Deconstruction is cool. It is good to know how your culture developed but it seems that people who are so eager to deconstruct think they are having earth shattering epiphanies about our origins, as if no one has ever studied where chirstmas came from.
“Our more human ancestors”? Does this mean the Singularity happened and I missed it?
***
While I’m not a big Michael Medved fan, he has a special program he replays every year that discusses the origin and history of the various Christmas symbols, traditions, songs, etc. It’s fascinating.
Nothing, just raise taxes on the “rich” in the name of social justice and redistribution.
Once I was in the home of a Wiccan couple at Christmastime. They had colored lights in their living room window in the shape of a five-pointed star. I thought that was very clever and subtle.
They omitted the circle around the star, which would have been in-your-face obvious. But just the star alone could have been seen by a passerby as a representation of the Star of Bethlehem, and regarded as a simple and tasteful Christmas decoration.