Why are all the RW hatemongers screaming about "Happy Holidays" being used

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

instead of "Merry Christmas?"

For the same reason they try to pass laws to allow the ten commandments in public buildings. For the same reason they gnash their teeth about abortion.

Not because they are particularly devout.

Not because they believe it is the best public policy.

Not because it is the right thing to do.

It's because now they can accuse the sane people of "hating Christians" or "killing babies."

I had to travel today and listened to a variety of RW talk shows. Almost every one of them was bemoaning the fact that all of us evil liberals are trying to take Christmas away. They took the efforts of people trying to be inclusive of all and tried to vilify it as an assault against all good Christians everywhere... Because this "IS A CHRISTIAN NATION!!!"

Damn, I thought a large part of the Founders were Deists.

They play this "are you still beating your wife?" game in every place they can and the really sad thing about it is there is one big contingent in this country that keeps on believing everything they say.

Obviously, we can't let them pass these stupid laws, but what in the hell can we do to remove the scales from the eyes of the lemmings that believe this crap? I don't have an easy answer, but I would really like to hear some other thoughts on the subject.

Peace out and Happy Fucking Holidays!

[politicaholic]

1. "Christmas is a time when people of all faiths..."

"can come together to worship Jesus." -Bart Simpson-

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Teehee

[donco6]

9. That's classic.

And it slides by so fast, you don't even catch it until you stop to think about it.

[jayctravis]

49. Um...isn't it about presents?

Yeah, it's about presents.

And ham.

Or not ham, if you don't like ham.

It's about cookies, that's it.

Happy Holidays. Happy end of the year when you get together with your families or fight with your friends and families and make cookies and possibly ham and potentially observe your own faith and traditions in the good tidings that we all made it through another one together.

[stopbush]

2. They hate Laura Bush who use the phrase "happy holidays"

TWICE within a 5-second period today!

[MrBenchley]

16. You might recall there was a wingnut fuss

over Harriet Miers editing the White house Xmas card one year so that it did not offend non-Chistians...there were right wing loonies who were aghast that she would do such a thing even before anyone complained!

[liveoaktx]

44. VIDEO

Lump

[smoogatz]

3. The first night of Hanukkah is Dec. 25th this year, I believe

Regardless, "Happy Holidays" is entirely appropriate--Christmas is NOT the only winter solstice festival celebrated in this country--and all the fundie nutballs who insist on "Merry Christmas" are obvious anti-semites, anti-druids and anti-kwanza'ans. Screw 'em.

[Don_1967]

12. CHRISTMAS

While it is true there are many winter festivals celebrated in this country Christmas is the only one that is a legal federal holiday.

[in_cog_ni_to]

15. So. and your point is? n/t

[Der Blaue Engel]

20. And this has what to do with holiday greetings exactly?

As for the federal holiday, I found this interesting:

JUDGE REJECTS GANULIN SUIT, RULES FEDERAL CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY IS SECULAR
"The court has found legitimate secular purposes for establishing Christmas as a legal public holiday."

http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/ganul3.htm

Regardless of whether it is in fact (rightly or wrongly) a government-sanctioned holiday, it certainly seems odd that anyone would object to being considerate of others who celebrate different/additional/no holidays.

[Bill McBlueState]

28. yeah!

And I better get my "Happy Fuckin' Columbus Day" for an entire two months preceding that federal holiday, too.

[smoogatz]

42. Christmas, as celebrated by most Americans, is a remarkably un-Christian

affair. It's mostly a weird mix of pagan/pre-Christian tradition and crass commercialism; tree-worship meets credit-card potlatch. And Christ wasn't born anywhere near the winter solstice, by all accounts--astronomers place his actual birthday sometime in June or July, if I recall correctly. The fundies can have their twisted, avaricious Christmas, as far as I'm concerned--the whole ugly catastrophe. I'll take Yuletide over Christmas anyday.

[jayctravis]

50. And you have to make cookies.

[HockeyMom]

21. 40 years ago

We started saying Happy Holidays in NYC for exactly that reason. Have these people been under a rock for 4 decades? Do you know how EMBARASSING it was when you didn't know whether somebody was Christian or Jewish? Happy Holidays made EVERYBODY happy.

[AspenRose]

33. "Season's Greetings" works too.

Although it may sound like a mouthful. Works great for cards.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

57. My thoughts exactly. Until the fundies and the neocons got into bed

with each other, this was a pretty nice place to live.

[Telly Savalas]

5. A Christian nation wouldn't leave 47 million of its members

go without health insurance.

It wouldn't let 1 in 6 children live in poverty.

And it certainly wouldn't be engaged in a senseless military occupation of another country.

[melody]

8. No, a fundie Christian nation would

And right now we're being run by a tyrant who is a fundie Christian, so...

[melody]

6. Because fundies love feeling persecuted

They've made up this idiocy.

I once ran a big mailing list where the moronic anti-PC crowd used to assail me for daring to wish international and non-mainstream folk a happy day on their own holidays. They don't even think through the ramifications of their rudeness. I finally drew a line and pointed out that I wasn't being "politically correct" - I was being something my southern grandmother taught me to be -- courteous.

Respect for others seems to be lost on these cretins.

[MrBenchley]

17. Of course, by "persecuted"

they mean that they are not allowed to bawl their prayers over loudspeakers at venues like football games....

[ktowntennesseedem]

29. Ironic, isn't it, that the same Jesus they want to force on everyone...

taught them to pray in private, and not out in public. Those who pray in front of others have their reward in the form of attention and publicity. But those who pray in private receive their reward from God who sees and hears in private.

Jesus also said many other things regarding prayer, most of which the religious right seem to have forgotten as well.

[MrBenchley]

53. I can't think of many things more ironic

that a bunch of simple-minded yokels striving to get a graven image they made that SAYS "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" put into places it doesn't belong.

[melody]

51. They mean not being able to shove their religion down our throats

Actually, I suspect they don't know what the hell they mean. They haven't thought through the ramifications of their own BS.

[MrBenchley]

52. Exactly so....

It IS BS....meant to appeal to the grotesquely stupid and dishonest....

[tanyev]

7. They LOVE being victims. They have to keep inventing new

ways to victimize themselves. Same reason they all adore Our Glorious Leader.

[FreedomAngel82]

36. Sad but true

It does get really old and annoying. And what if they once really were a victim? It's like the boy who cried wolf all the time.

[Midnight Rambler]

10. Who's to say "Happy Holidays" doesn't include New Years?

That's what I alwyas thought it meant when I was a little kid. After all, it's only six days after Christmas.

Besides, I don't know of anyone who's actually trying to get rid of Christmas... who isn't a fictional green character created by Theodore Geisel. They're just looking for any excuse to scream about how liberals hate Jesus.

[Straight Shooter]

11. Their whining and pewling have ruined my holidays for years.

Why don't they just shut up and let people enjoy their own holidays as they deem appropriate?

Every year, same old damn thing. The Party of Persecution gets on its high horse and tries to tell everyone the "proper" way to celebrate, right down to how we address each other.

Personally, I've always liked "Seasons Greetings," because the holidays aren't that happy for a lot of people. :(

edit: why do we always catch the typo the split-second after hitting "post"

[Der Blaue Engel]

13. I'd like to see some statistics on how many liberals are actively

campaigning to have the term Christmas stricken from public reference anyway.

I'm an atheistic pagan who adores Christmas. While I support the effort to be inclusive and respectful of all faiths and beliefs, and I have friends who are upset by the constant barrage of Christmas-ification, I personally don't mind if someone wishes me a Merry Christmas. (Though I might reply "And a Blessed Solstice to you!")

So who is it these freaks (the RW hatemongers) are talking about? Who is even making a huge effort to get this "terrible" inclusiveness?

:shrug:

"If I could work my will," said Scrooge indignantly, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart! BAH HUMBUG!" :evilgrin:

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. I'm going to greet everyone I see with "Happy Hanukkah"

and see how happy that makes them. If they greet me with Merry Christmas, my reply will be Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanza. We'll see how they like it. Throw it back at them. This country IS NOT a Christian ONLY country. assholes.

We go through this shit with them every damn year. Their WHINING is really getting old. They sound and act like 2 years olds who want their way. If they can't have their way, they whine and throw a fit. :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry: Send 'em to the damn corner until they learn their religion isn't the ONLY religion. I wish it was that easy. :(

[LSK]

18. Christianity was the only game in town in the 1700s

America was founded in large part by Europeans. In the 1700s, Christianity largely dominated Europeans. Other religions were on the fringe. Jews were minority and Islam was some far off religion that the Moors or Turks practiced.

So technically, America was founded by Christians.

However, there were many different variations on Christianity and these people really did not get along in Europe. Whole wars were fought in Europe over different forms of Christianity and who was "in" with the Pope.

The founding fathers sought seperation of Church and State because of the many different forms of Christianity. But Christianity itself was the only game in town.

When freeps offer this argument, they demonstrate their complete ignorance of history.

[tabasco]

43. Here's a recommended link.

http://www.theology.edu/journal/volume2/ushistor.htm

The Founders were not all Christians and the separation of church and state was not conceived simply because of "the many different forms of Christianity."

I recommend reading about the Enlightenment and how it influenced many of the great Americans that began the USA.

[theophilus]

19. One reason: They don't know the Bible.

The term "holy day" is found throughout the Old Testament and is implicit in the understanding of Colossians 2:16. Why don't they look at and go by Col. 2:16? Maybe because it says:

Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

The problem was that non-Jews (Gentiles) were not bound by the Jewish rites and special "holy days" when the New Testament was written. Christianity was to be a religion of the Spirit and not much on the "show" aspect. Well this all goes against what some claiming Christianity do and demand of others. Ironic.

[FreedomAngel82]

37. Exactly

And Christmas isn't mentioned in the Bible. We aren't told to remember his (Jesus) birth but to remember his death with the Lord Supper aka Communion to some Christian's. Christmas is a pagan holiday that, in my opinion, was stolen by earlier Christians who wanted to make this day their's. I do celebrate Christmas myself since I've always loved the holiday. It's only religious if you make it out to be.

[Solomon]

22. What's so ironic about it is that December 25th has been celebrated

as a holiday long before there was any christ or christmas. They really show how ignorant they are.

I suppose there must have been a time when the solstice celebrators got upset when people started saying "merry christmas".

[awoke_in_2003]

23. Perhaps

it is because christians are the most persecuted group in america :sarcasm:

Seriously, though, these people see nonexistent threat everywhere.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

24. I give Christmas cards and Christmas greetings

to those I know are Christians.

Everybody else gets "Have a great holiday!" and a generic card. Pretty much everybody at least GETS some sort of time off or holiday, regardless of faith. And as somebody has mentioned already, there are a lot of winter holidays anyway.

And I'd be pissed off if the WalMart greeter said "Merry Christmas" to me. It's just a thing I have. Christmas is sacred to me and I am sick of seeing it bastardized everywhere. It is so over the top now it is virtually meaningless.

This whole RW Christmas whining is embarassing to me as a Christian and it's a red herring they throw in to cover up their terrifying poltical aspirations and just to knock us off track and keep us bitching about minutia.

[FreedomAngel82]

38. Oh I hear you hon

:hug:

[SillyGoose]

25. I personally think their rage at the Happy Holidays thing is so

ridiculous. Can they not get it through their heads that there are several holidays at this time of year and Happy Holidays is, in fact, the most appropriate salutation to give to a customer. That is what polite people say when they don't want to offend someone. My late husband had a large business and the company cards that were sent out at this time of year always said Season's Greetings so as to not offend anyone.

I think this recent fundie firestorm stems from an inherent bigotry against anyone who doesn't share their belief system. In their minds all those who don't share their beliefs are infidels. These are the same people who will shit blue because certain Islamic nations outlaw any mention of other faiths aside from Islam. Religious extremism is dangerous in any society and should certainly not be tolerated in a free society such as our own.

I shut a fundie relative up last week when I asked her how she would like to be greeted with Happy Hanukkah, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Kwanzaa or Happy Ramadan at Wal-Mart the next time she is shopping. If she doesn't feel that she has to acknowledge other religious observations why the hell should everyone else have to acknowledge hers?

[FreedomAngel82]

39. Good point!

My dad's work does that too. He works at TVA and gets a nice card that is signed by his bosses that says "Happy Holiday's." It's just being polite and thoughtful of other people.

[ktowntennesseedem]

26. You're "takin' Christ right outta Christmas" when you go PC like that.

"It's Jesus' birthday, plain and simple, and all them other days are no holidays. Just like when folks start saying Merry Xmas, because everyone knows that "X" is a symbol for the unknown and in only used by people who don't know Jesus... "

If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times. Forget arguing the fact that the date for the birth of Christ is totally unknown (we don't even know the year, let alone the month and day!) Forget arguing that Dec. 25th was "borrowed" from other secular holidays and festivals. And forget arguing the fact that the "X" is actually the first letter in the name "Christ" when written in the original Greek of the New Testament. I know, because I've tried---total waste of breath, every time.

[meow2u3]

32. I couldn't have said it better myself

This PC crap has gone too far. When you start messing with traditional holidays to cater to tiny minorities at the expense of the majority religion, i.e., Christianity, that's when you've crossed the line. That's tyranny in my book.

OTOH, I don't see anything wrong with giving attention to the particular winter holidays other than Christmas, e.g., Hanukkah, by name. Just lose that "Happy Holidays" when you really mean "Merry Christmas!"

[FreedomAngel82]

27. Laura Bush must hate Christmas too

She said "Happy Holiday's" when she got the Christmas tree earlier. Ha! It's all about making money. They know the republicans in power will never do anything they want because they know it'd be political suicide for them if they did get away with Roe V Wade or put the Ten Commandments everywhere. I remember reading that with the Ten Commandments thing with Roy Moore that people would come to the court and WORSHIP the commandments! Uh hello idol worship is a big no-no!!! God has told He is a jealous God so why are you worshipping such things? And these rightwingers need to get off their high horses. I'm a Christian and a proud liberal and celebrate Christmas! So they can get over it! If they want to go to a time where abortion was low go to the 90's when Clinton was president! So where are they caring about the poor, elderly, children, education, enviornment, economy? Anything at all? Nah. They just love to play the "I'm a victim" nonsense. We liberals have saved this country time and time again and this is how we're thanked? *sigh* Sometimes I feel like packing up and just staying on my ass and letting them hang themselves.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

30. Tell them they must be anti-business pinkos

As a small business person, I have no idea what religion most of our clients, vendors and others belong to. I don't want to look like an idiot and wish Merry Christmas to someone that doesn't celebrate it.

Why would a large company that deals with millions of people want to do that either?

[meow2u3]

31. I'm no right-wing hatemonger, but I'm offended by "the holidays"

supplanting Christmas.

I'm a progressive Catholic, and I feel my holiday is being too commercialized and put on the back burner.

How about just spelling out all the winter holidays, tailoring them to the exact time, instead of replacing "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays"?

It was Christmas when I was a kid, and I'd like to keep it that way!

[mondo joe]

34. How EXACTLY do you tailor them to the exact time?

What's your proposed schedule?

[NewJeffCT]

35. It was the fundies that started "Happy Holidays" in the first place!!!

A few decades back, when Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings first became popular and fundamentalist Christians were actually truly Christian, the fundamentalists started saying "Happy Holidays" because they did not like that Christmas, that most Holy of Christian holidays, had become so crass and commercialized.

[FreedomAngel82]

41. Oh yes

:D LOL Too funny.

[SPKrazy]

40. Because they are self centered morans!

They don't care about other's beliefs or holidays

Never mind Kwanza, or Hannukah, or anything but Christmas.

I don't understand people who think that way.

I really don't think it is being advanced by anyone but the right wing talkers and politicos as a way to keep the base riled up about nothing!

Thanks

[mucifer]

45. If you poor discriminated against Christians are in a terrible

predicament remember I'm Jewish and I do have some extra room in my attic.

:rofl:

[Initech]

46. It's just another bullshit issue for the Talibornagain

Nothing more, nothing less.

[Finder]

47. Interesting facts about Christmas in the US

How We Came to Celebrate
Christmas as a National Holiday
...

Before the Civil War, the North and South were divided on the issue of Christmas, as well as on the question of slavery. Many Northerners saw sin in the celebration of Christmas; to these people the celebration of Thanksgiving was more appropriate. But in the South, Christmas was an important part of the social season. Not surprisingly, the first three states to make Christmas a legal holiday were in the South: Alabama in 1836, Louisiana and Arkansas in 1838.
...


http://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/AmChristmas/index.html

[blonndee]

48. Here's why: they're asking for MONEY for this "campaign."

And that's what it's all about.

See for yourself:

http://www.lc.org/misc/friend_or_foe.htm

On edit: This is specifically FALWELL's schtick. The rest of the fundigelicals just follow along.

[sendero]

54. They want everyone ...

... to affirm their delusional beliefs.

They can barely believe it themselves and they need everyone to go along to reinforce their faith.

[rman]

55. Because it's their job to push RW wedge-issues

That's why.

It's one thing for the nation to distrust Bush, it's another if the lot would turn to the Democrats.

And so: Liberals bad! they want to take your guns away, kill your babies, take christmas away, take profits away from big corporations that make life good for you.

[Loonman]

56. Wasn't a big deal 10 years ago

Why it is now is beyond me.