GayPatriot

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas

Sorry folks, I’m really tired of having to say “Happy Holidays”. I’m taking back Christmas.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Comments

  4. I’ll have lots of people disagree with me, but here it goes: nobody is forcing a gun to your head to say “Happy Holidays”. If you want to say “Merry Christmas” fine-do so. If I want to say “Happy Holidays”, I should be able to do so without some yahoo shrieking at me “IT’S MERRY CHRISTMAS”. If there are people out there who are getting fired from their jobs by saying “Happy Holidays” then boo on that company. We have bigger fish to fry, people. The crass commercialization of Christmas is damaging the holiday more than a thousand “Happy Holidays” ever could. This is a time of year where there should be joy & peace, not people screaming at each other & doing one-upmanship (no, my holiday is more important – NO, NO, MINE IS!!). I guess the fact that I’m a Unitarian Universalist is coloring my attitude on the whole thing.

  6. Amen, Jimbo.

    I think sometimes we are more afraid of offending people than they would possibly be offended.

    But I also don’t need validation from store clerks to get into the holiday spirit. And retailers really don’t care about our religion so long as we pay full price for a Wii.

    This is a lot of to-do about nothing. If you want to celebrate Christmas then check out the many offerings at your local churches. Volunteer. Donate to one of the many charities that help the needy (including a few to help out the families of service members). But stop berating the poor retail workers (serioiusly, anyone who works in retail at Christmas deserves a medal, not a scolding) who are just trying to be nice without offending the shoppers who aren’t Christian. Not everyone is. They really did mean well even if it did create a (huge phony) controversy.

  11. Elaygee… the old farLeft secularist “imaginary friends” slur?

    Hey, the good news is that over 85% of your like-minded irreligious compatriots call out God’s name for salvation as their own end of life rapidly approaches… and He still welcomes them into eternity. As an aging gay, you might want to ponder what will be your own special reaction when that time arrives… never too early to atone. Right?

  12. A very Merry Christmas to the writers and readers of this blog.
    I’m thrilled to live in a country, where although I’m not Christian, I am completely included in this Holiday.
    I love the goodwill and cheer that most people have this time of year.
    the lights, the eggnogg, I love it all. Now if only they didn’t start with the music before Halloween, by Christmas I’m so over it.

  13. Just an observation. It seems like the more conservative one is, the more likely one is to say simply “Merry Christmas” in response to GP’s post. The more liberal one is, the more likely one is to deliver a lecture about consumerism.

  14. In case you missed it, VK, Ben Stein, definitely not a liberal, had a nice piece on CBS’s Sunday Morning program about commercialism and consumerism around the holidays.

    Like I said. Merry Christmas is premature. It’s still Advent. It’s Christmas from Dec 26-Jan 6. (At which time it is Epiphany.)

    Liturgically yours,

    HT

  15. As was obvious from my phrasing, I was limiting my discussion to the comments in this thread (as indicated by the words “in response to GP’s post,” which I doubt Mr. Stein has read), HT.

    But, hey, nice try at a diversion.

  18. HT, you’re absolutely correct about “… (l)ike I said. Merry Christmas is premature. It’s still Advent.”

    A Blest and Well Prepared Advent to you then… but it seems ok to wish someone a conventional Happy Birthday 2+ weeks out from their birthday if you don’t think you’ll see before the celebration.

    Can’t we say Merry Christmas a few days early… it helps focus attention on what’s important in this season. Although, I think, for a lot of conservatives in the megachurchs this is more about ratcheting up the Gospel of Greed and Epistle to Excuse All The Self-Centeredness that seems to shroud their worship the other 364 days of the year.

    Someone (VinceP?) wrote in another thread that we need to shake up the MSM and the govt and re-re-reorder our society… which is fine as long as we don’t forget to nick for reform organized religion, higher education, k-12 public schools and a few other institutions along the way… especially given the manner in which most Christians celebrate the Holy Days… which seems to be more about the holy Buck for the pulpit or the pew.

    In our household, we’re staying focused on helping the local families of troops feel the Christmas love… irrespective of their faith/creed or lack of it.

  24. Pseudo-Druids do celebrate Winter Soltice though. And there is some reason to think that placing the Christmas holiday in midwinter was to give converts a party they were allowed to go to. The event itself though, no matter when it happened or when it’s celebrated, is a religiously motivated observance. I’ve got no gripe with people celebrating their own thing in midwinter and no need for them to celebrate mine and everyone should be encouraged to be publicly joyous and call out “Grand Yule” or whatever the heck they want to without checking first to see if the person they are greeting follows some other tradition (or newly recovered and imagined tradition or whatever.)

    But at least we don’t hear much about Kwanza anymore. That one bugged the heck out of me because it seemed to be created on the premise that African-Americans, who are as often Christian as any other race or ethnicity in this country, needed a non-Christian alternative. Not that the ideas were anything bad, just that the implication that blacks didn’t already have their OWN midwinter holiday was divisive and insulting. When did that get started? In the 1960’s? Go ahead and correct me if I’m wrong. At least pseudo-druids and pagans manage to claim some historical and religious precedent.

  26. I don’t mean to be rude but I don’t see what is wrong with saying happy holidays, how is it any less valid than saying Merry Christmas.
    I shouldn’t have to work a job and worry that saying Happy Holidays will cause a riot, so I mostly don’t say anything unless the costumer says it first.
    Not to mention Christmas was a holiday taken from roman pagan holiday by the early Chrstian church to entice converts….

  27. I don’t mean to be rude but I don’t see what is wrong with saying happy holidays

    If you went up to a Jewish guy and wanted to wish him salutation on the Sabbath would you say “Shabbot Shalom” or would you say, so that you dont offend him , “Last day of the Week Shalom”?

    Not to mention Christmas was a holiday taken from roman pagan holiday by the early Chrstian church to entice converts

    And that has what to do with anything? Are you spearheading a global effort to get the real birthdate to be celebrated.. the Jewish Feastday of Tabernacles?

  28. My point was that the greeting of Happy Holidays is just a friendly gesture, how is it any less friendly or have less good will to say it than Merry Christmas.

    But I guess Happy Holidays just carries spite to some people’s ears.

  29. I think a lot of people are sick of having their traditions be neutered and defanged by the Left’s secular imperialism… so when someone abstracts away their specific holiday, i can see why they may be annoyed.

    I never heard of anything so foolish as someone being offened because you said Merry Christmas to them. (i dont mean you specifically)

    I’m not Jewish, but I love it when someone says happy hannuakah to me. And i found most people I’ve said that to, also find it makes them happy

    We have to throw the Poltically Correct self-censorship away.

    No other culture tortures itself like we do… and it’s not good for the future.

  30. No other culture tortures itself like we do… and it’s not good for the future.

    (Emphasis mine)

    There ought to be a congressional investigation into exactly what the liberals knew and when they knew it. They’re actually trying to do stuff in DC so we need a nice waste of time and money to distract them.

  31. I think a lot of people are sick of having their traditions be neutered and defanged by the Left’s secular imperialism…

    The rise of the evangelical right is a direct response to the cultural jihad against Christianity the left has been waging since the 1960’s.

  32. The rise of the evangelical right is a direct response to the cultural jihad against Christianity the left has been waging since the 1960’s.

    But cause and effect is lost on them. They were just sitting around minding their own business, smoking their bongs, when these “whacko fundamentalists” started pouring out of the woodwork. It’s NEVER their fault.

  34. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL GP BLOGGERS OR READERS.
    WE ALL HAVE A LOT TO BE GRATEFUL FOR THIS YEAR – HEALTH AND THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE A PRESIDENT (JUST DO THE RIGHT THING)

  35. Cultural jihad??? That’s hilarious.

    Yes, some on the very fringe of the left are anti-Christian. They are wing-nuts and no one pays them much attention except right wing bloggers. But believe it or not a lot of social liberals are Christians. The civil rights movement began in the African American churches after all. And most of the opposition came from church going white people. The very same sorts of people who complain about the gays, women and minorities demanding the same rights as everyone else.

  36. Houndentenor

    your comment is one long non-sequiter.

    of course everyone knows there’s normal people on the Left.

    That doesn’t refute that there are plenty of Leftists engaged in a cultural jihad against the traditional culture.

  37. I don’t think it’s confined to a fringe of the left. When there was a resolution before Congress to honor the celebration of Christmas, 9 Democrats voted against it, despite voting yes on a similar resolution to honor Ramadan. There has been a systematic effort, spearheaded by leftist organizations like the ACLU, to sterilize the public commons of any references to Christianity. For example, by removing a tiny cross from the shield of the County of Los Angeles, and demanding the removal of Christmas trees (a secular symbol) from public buildings. Last week, a Newsweek columnist confessed that she was “uncomfortable” with people of faith.

    The person from my church who is my home-teaching companion is an avowed Democrat, so, of course, not all leftists are anti-religion. But the animus against Christianity comes primarily from the left, and it is not just a few far left bloggers driving it.

  38. Nine Democrats voted against something? Whatever. You don’t think I acknowledge that there are some nuts in my party? Although why Congress is wasting time passing a resolution honoring Christmas is beyond me. Don’t we all already know it’s Christmas? Don’t they have anything better to do?

    I have said this many times. Religious displays are best done by religious organizations. Wouldn’t your church do a better job of displaying a nativity scene than the city council?

    As for the Christmas Tree, that’s just an example of how little most Americans know about their own history and their own religious traditions. Yes, it’s a pagan custom that the Victorians borrowed from the Germans (who were intermarried with the British Monarcy via the House of Hanover whatever I forget). There’s nothing all that Christian about it.

    I think we are all better off with the state doing it’s thing and the churches, temples, mosques or whatever else there might be doing their thing. It works pretty well that way. “Official” displays always look to me like they were designed by committee. I’d rather see something that had meaning to the artist/decorator than something designed to have mass appeal without offending anyone.

    And I’m glad you acknowledged there are some Christians who are Democrats. Too often here I get a sense that people don’ t know that. And it would do people on the left well to be aware that not all Christians are fundamentalist wackos. (The problem with that is that reasonable people don’t get on TV because they don’t foam at the mouth and rant and rave. So the vast middle of the country is hardly represented at all.)

  39. Wouldn’t your church do a better job of displaying a nativity scene than the city council?

    Sure, but I also don’t think the city council should be forbidden from putting one out if people want it. It’s not the quality of the expression that’s at issue, it’s the right of people to engage in the “free exercise” of religion as acknowledged in the First Amendment.

  42. No, the taxpayers should not be paying for a religious display. As for a private group putting up a display on city property I guess that’s a grey area. Personally I don’t care, but then I don’t belong to a religious minority who would view that as the government endorsing one religion over another.

  43. What we have too often now are school officials over-reacting out of fear of complaints and lawsuits.

    And why would they be so afraid of complaints and lawsuits if only a tiny powerless fringe of the left hates Christmas?

  44. Because the lunatic fringe on the left and on the right can make your life miserable if they want to sick their lawyers or nutjob protesters on you. If it’s not Fred Phelps picketing funerals then it’s someone suing you because “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” has “homosexual connotations”. (Bonus points if you get the reference)

  45. Nah, the religious right are amateurs at this. The secular progressive (agnostic) left dominates the courts, the media, and academia, so their influence is far more pervasive and threatening. Which is why schools can can cancel Christmas shows with impunity. Every secular-progressive fad that comes along … sex education, multi-culturalism, global warming… gets integrated into the curriculum. The right is lucky if they can just keep the schools from ridiculing their values.

  46. Sorry but I don’t see anyone pandering to atheists and agnostics in our culture. Everyone running for president has to flaunt their “faith” (mostly pretend in both parties, IMHO). It’s a Christian Fundamentalist surging to the lead in the GOP primary polls. Yes, there are some loonies in academia. But it’s not as if there aren’t just as many nutty people on the right.

  47. Sorry, I don’t see the “homosexual connotations”. Guess I’m not as well travelled or edumacated as you are.

    Sorry but I don’t see anyone pandering to atheists and agnostics in our culture.

    V just provided you with an example above. Add to that schools are changing from Christmas party to holiday party and renaming Christmas break to Winter break. Not to mention they won’t even touch Easter.

    Further, we’ve had years and years of public holday displays until recently when some miserable people decided that everybody else needed to be just as miserable as they are. Those in decision making positions are, in fact, capitulating to a few whiney bitches and the rest of us get to suffer for it.

    You’ll pardon me if we’re sick and tired of it.

  50. No, what you did was provide a few examples from the radical fringe and tried to make that sound like an overwhelming trend. If, however, I go through right wing websites and find anti-gay comments or anti-pagan or anti-atheist statements, you’ll say that those don’t represent you or aren’t anything like your position.

    It’s impossible to argue this way.

    What I was trying to do was throw a little levity into the debate since for the most part I find it rather silly. No one can rob you of what is in your heart. But I sense that a lot of “Christians” are more concerned with outward displays than genuine spirituality. They are like the Pharisees that Jesus denounces in the gospels. Making a big show of religion is not following in the path of Christ.

    BTW, my “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” remark was a reference to “A Tuna Christmas”. A very funny play (sequel to Greater Tuna) set in a small town in Texas. It’s hilarious and I had assumed at least one reader would have recognized it. I guess not.

  51. It’s impossible to argue this way.

    Laying out documented examples that illustrate a pattern of behavior, and then demonstrating that the pattern of behavior is consistent with a particular political agenda is an impossible way to argue?

    I guess “feelings” are the only way to legitimize an argument in your book.

  52. No, not at all. I already said that I found those sorts of complaints ridiculous. You can come up with silly examples all day long and my position isn’t going to change. You can just keep coming up with a new one every day. We all know there’s enough stupidity in this country for you to find something new every few hours. So what more do you want me to say?

    It’s hardly a war. An annoyance to some, I’m sure. But a compromise could easily have been reached except that extremists on both sides want to keep the issue alive so they can each feel vicitmized by the other. We live in a pluralistic society and it’s really not that hard to acknowledge that other people have different views and beliefs. And people secure in their beliefs don’t need the government to put up tacky holiday displays nor shop clerks pandering to their religious belief to get them to spend more money to deepen their faith.

  55. Letter from Jesus about Christmas

    It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you’ve forgotten that I wasn’t actually born during this time of the year and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.

    How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don’t care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

    Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn’t allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn’t be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

    Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 – 8.

    If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

    1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

    2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don’t have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

    3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don’t you write and tell him that you’ll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.

    4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can’t afford and they don’t need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

    5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

    6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don’t know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.

    7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren’t allowed to wish you a “Merry Christmas” that doesn’t keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn’t make so much money on that day they’d close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families

    8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary– especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.

    9. Here’s a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no “Christmas” tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don’t know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

    10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don’t do things in secret that you wouldn’t do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

    Don’t forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I’ll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I’ll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember : I LOVE YOU, JESUS

  57. Well, V the K, I have to admit that it’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Of course it’s Christmas just like earlier this month it was Hanukah and soon it will be New Year’s Day. At some point it’s Ramadan and Valentine’s Day will be coming up in Feburary. It’s Christmas whether you believe in Christ or not.

    But I’m suspicious. Do I need to check Snopes on this? I can’t imagine this is true. And if it is, then I can’t wait for the idiots responsible to be fired.

    BTW, I assume you are equally outraged at President Bush for hosting a White House “Holiday Party” this year instead of a Christmas Party?

  60. It was a lie.

    http://www.swosu.edu/news/releases/2007/2007-12-20c.asp

    This is why it’s impossible to debate such an issue. No one banned the use of the word Christmas on the campus. How can we have a serious discussion based on lies. It took me several hours to get a straight answer. Someone lied to and issued a press release obviously without checking the facts with SWOSU. Right wing websites picked up the press release without bothering to verify the facts. And you ran with it.

    Does truth mean anything to the right wing? This is one example. Then there’s Romney’s lie about his father marching with Martin Luther King Jr. And of course the college student who beat himself up to play martyr as a conservative.

    If you are going to present lies as facts, it is impossible to have a discussion. How many other lies have you passed off as true concerning this “war on Christmas”. Shame on you.

  61. No, Houndentenor, it wasn’t a lie.

    An attempt to be respectful of the diverse religious population at Southwestern Oklahoma State University has been misinterpreted as an attempt to ban Christmas on the Weatherford campus.

    And:

    The university attempted to prevent the appearance as a state agency of endorsing any particular religion.

    As the press release said, they released a policy asking all employees to refrain from using the word “Christmas” in any form.

    The spin they are trying to put on it is trying to argue that for state employees to say “Merry Christmas” or to refer to Christmas constituted the appearance that they were endorsing a religion.

    Do you agree with them?

  63. I don’t see anything in the press release that contradicts the facts of the story. And, indeed, it seems to confirm them.

    Or, is this another one of those deals like where the left labels the Swiftboat Vets as liars even though nothing they asserted was disproved?