What's wrong with saying Merry Christmas? why is it so wrong to say it when we can say Happy Valentines, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah etc. Whatever happend to freedom of speech? or freedom of expression? Christans can't express their freedom of speech where they work, but yet witchs can?
I thought racisim was bad. Well banning people to say Merry Christmas and taking prayer and God out of schools is just as bad, and I believe it's an act of racism.
I don't mean to step on anyones feet. it's just please someone tell me how this is fair to Christians?
2007-12-22 10:15:32 · 18 answers · asked by jessica s 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
ok, I'm sorry everyone, I didn't mean to discriminate your religions orr anything. It's just where I live I see people whare pentigrams and all that stuff, and yes, Christans whare their crosses and such, but what I'm trying to say, is I look at these stores and go into them and people are saying 'Happy Holidays' and my brother works at Starbucks and they have to call their Christmas blend, the Holiday blend. I don't know, I think I'm reading to much into it, I'm sorry if I offended anyone, I didn't mean to so please forgive me.
2007-12-22 17:52:46 · update #1
Hear hear! Here in the UK we always say Merry Christmas. The word "holiday" means something different anyway (vacation) so "Happy Holidays" would actually mean "have a nice trip" which is nonsense.
I posted a question like this a week or so ago because I didn't understand why my CHRISTIAN American friends were sending me cards which said "Happy Holidays". Why are they trying to pretend Christmas is something else? We are celebrating Christ's birth, and that's a big deal, despite the fact that it didn't happen on 25th December.
One of my answerers mollified me somewhat by saying that "Happy Holidays" includes New Year. In other words it's a quicker way of saying "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" since these two celebrations occur so close to each other. I accept that. But I will still be wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas" whatever religion they may or may not belong to.
2007-12-22 10:29:04 · answer #1 · answered by sunnyannie 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This I don't get; I live in a pretty multi-cultural country and we say merry Christmas without even thinking about it. I'm an atheist, I know the Christmas myth is just that, a myth with no tangible evidence but I have no problem wishing people a merry Christmas because I'm referring to the holiday itself not the religious hokus pokus. I don't see why Americans make such a big deal out of it.
2007-12-22 18:20:45 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Nothing, but it's very thoughtless of those who wish non-Christians a Merry Christmas when we are not celebrating Christmas. Happy holidays is no better if we're not celebrating any of the holidays, or if our holiday has already passed.
Wouldn't you feel a little puzzled if you started getting Passover or Yom Kippur holiday greetings in the spring and fall? Wouldn't you wonder why Jews were asking you to observe a Jewish holiday?
Why not stick with the "have a nice day" greeting -- it's every bit as thoughtless as "merry christmas."
.
2007-12-22 19:04:56 · answer #3 · answered by Hatikvah 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You can say Merry Christmas if you want. The so-called controversy was manufactured by people who wanted to look victimized.
But don't confuse that with the school prayer issue, which is really serious. Since you believe in freedom of speech, I assume you want the teachers in public schools to lead their classes in the reciting of Muslim, Wiccan, Jewish, and Hindu prayers, plus an hour of silent meditation for the Quakers and Zen Buddhists. Oh yeah, and a Christiam prayer too, if there's time. Or maybe organized prayer should be reserved for houses of worship, eh?
2007-12-22 18:41:56 · answer #4 · answered by yutsnark 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
RE: why is it so wrong to say it when we can say Happy Valentines, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah etc.
Because those holidays (and especially Hanukkah) are not Jesus focused, and not everyone believes in Jesus Christ.
People feel like you are assuming they value Jesus Christ the same way you do, and they resent having that imposed upon them. It's like you're ignoring who they REALLY are as people and what they REALLY believe.
Pagans, witches, Wiccans and heathens in particular get very upset about this because of the FACT that Christmas wouldn't have been on Dec. 25th if it hadn't been for Christianity's tendency to use former pagan holidays (in this case, Yuletide, a Northern European pagan holiday that gave us ideas like "white Christmas" and wreaths and Christmas trees and carols and wassailing and all that) as their own holidays to gain converts and to crush competing pagan beliefs.
2007-12-22 18:25:48 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Since when do Witches have freedom of speech?
I have a bumper sticker on my car that says "No war has ever been fought in the name of Wicca." Once, I got a note on my car that said, "And no soul has ever gotten into Heaven in the name of Wicca, either."
I've had people tell me I'm damning my kids to hell JUST because they see my pentacle around my neck.
I certainly don't say mean things when people are wearing crosses.
If anything, it's the other way around. Christians can around saying "God Bless you" to everyone they see, but if I were to say, "Goddess Bless you" I'd probably have Holy Water thrown on me.
Quit your whining. Accept the fact that your CHRISTmas is actually a Pagan holiday.
2007-12-22 18:25:46 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
To each his/her own. Some people find it insulting when someone doesn't consider his/her beliefs or lack of. I think it's rediculous to take it personally when all the person is doing is wishing the other well. People are not trying to insult each other. It's not like they're wishing you'd get hit by a car...lol. Let it go and take it for what it's meant for. Even if someone says " 'god' bless....". They're not meaning to hurt you. If you don't believe in 'god' so be it. It wont affect you either way so who cares?
2007-12-22 18:21:41 · answer #7 · answered by Maureen B 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, most people are only saying it to be polite anyway.
I'm agnostic, but when people say "merry Christmas" at me, i assume that they want me to have a merry December 25th, wether i celebrate the birth of Jesus or not.
Theres just no tolerance in this country anymore!
2007-12-22 18:21:25 · answer #8 · answered by abbbijo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Really, now. As a witch I would have to dispute your assertion that I can express my freedom of speech. Oh, I guess I could if I wanted to lose my job. My Christian co-workers, on the other hand, wear their torture-symbol crosses with impunity while I would not be caught dead with my pentacle lest I be branded a devil worshipper. You have a lot to learn about tolerance and who is really discriminated against in this society.
2007-12-22 18:21:11 · answer #9 · answered by Cheryl E 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Nothing is wrong with it. In fact it has turned around again and many places are returning to saying Merry Christmas.
2007-12-22 18:19:34 · answer #10 · answered by Google Rules! 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋