Say wha?
I think I talked about this last year, but I don’t really understand how people can be offended by things dealing with Christmas, if it has a religious undertone to it. For example, a coworker was talking about how she wanted to decorate our department, and I overheard her say, “Well, reindeer should be okay - it’s not overly religious.”
Huh? Christmas = Christ Mass. I guess I don’t get it.
December 12th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
but I don’t really understand how people can be offended by things dealing with Christmas
Ask a Jew.
December 12th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
Ahem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas
I feel it important to remind you that not everybody is Christian. If everybody ran around being all ‘happy kwanzaa” or otherwise, you probably wouldn’t be very enthusiastic, being a Christian. One could suggest that you might feel ‘left out.’ The holidays are difficult enough to deal with without anybody feeling ‘left out.’
December 12th, 2006 at 7:35 pm
I’m going to have to disagree with all y’all. (Did I use that right?)
Jenn: As Christians, we really need to be more careful about how we interact with people who do not believe the things we do. This is especially true now that the pseudo-Christian idiot-king and his minions are working so hard to make us everyone’s enemy. Does the secularization of Christmas sadden me? You bet. But it’s only gotten that way because it’s been pushed on people who don’t really believe in the real meaning of Christmas in the first place.
Jeff and Nicole: This idea that we need to curtail expressions of faith (or lack thereof) because someone might be offended really sucks. We should be headed in the other direction, toward a more cosmopolitan mindset. I have no problem with being greeted with “Happy Hanukkah”, because I understand the good will behind the message.
December 13th, 2006 at 10:12 am
It is a fiery lake of purgatory for the lot of you sinners! Arrrrr!
December 13th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
She might have just been worried about corporate policy, which can be touchy about these things. The only thing worse than a stupid policy is being the person who got fired because of a stupid policy…
(Personally I don’t particularly care either way.)
December 13th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
Matt, I am intrigued by your ideas and would subscribe to your newsletter. I would even consider joining your fanclub, especially if I got a super-secret decoder ring.
December 20th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
I basically have to say “what they said,” because it’s true. I, in some ways, celebrate Christmas, because my family is Christian, and because it is a time of year to be joyous & celebrate family to those of us who aren’t Christian. It’s the one time of year that you see both the best & worst of people. But I don’t celebrate it for any religous reasons. I celebrate Yule, the aformentioned Winter Solstice. And since its celebrations are almost identical to Christmas’s, its easy for me. But its very hard to deal day to day with Christian symbols, ideals, and holidays shoved down my throat.
And as for a workplace, I would want to feel accepted in my workplace, not left out. Maybe if, along side baby Jesus in a manger, they had the Goddess symbol or a pentagram, it would be fine, but good luck finding a work place that accepting. So best to keep religion out of the work place.
Sorry. I wrote a book. O.o