Saying, "Merry Christmas."

[oc_in_fw]

On the coasts it is generally not safe to assume that anybody you run into celebrates Christmas no matter what they look like, and everyone's money is the same shade of green, so it's generally thought to be good form for businesses to put some effort into not offending anyone. Especially if that business has a multicultural customer base. That would work fine until somebody gets annoyed at hearing Happy Holidays from some store clerk instead of Merry Christmas. I have no idea how or why that should be annoying, but all that does is just add to everyone's headaches. In general the easiest way to get through life is to cut people a little slack and don't let anyone else give you reason to think you should be outraged about things like that.

 

[kelbro]

The constitution does not protect you from being offended.

Merry Christmas!

 

[Raissermesser]

Well, if you look like the sort of person who celebrates Christmas and/or are doing something that makes it obvious that you are celebrating Christmas, then there clearly won't be a problem (such as when I was buying a few books of the Madonna-and-child stamps at the post office for my Christmas cards.) But those like me who live in, shall we say, more multicultural areas (my neighborhood has substantial south Asian and middle-eastern populations) should really be aware that many people you run into over the course of a day are not going to be celebrating the holiday. One appears less of an insensitive lout when remembering that, and it is generally considered impolite to present oneself as such. Fortunately, as noted immediately above, most people will have enough manners and grace to understand the greeting in the spirit it was meant and not make a stink about it. But it's usually just as sensible to not unnecessarily put oneself in the position in the first place.

Considering that Christmas is big in Japan, it may not be as big a deal as is assumed. I wouldn't be upset if someone wished me a Happy Hanukah.

 

[RigelDust]

Considering that Christmas is big in Japan, it may not be as big a deal as is assumed. I wouldn't be upset if someone wished me a Happy Hanukah.

I agree. I’m a “Happy Holidays” guy. My religion intends to celebrate all ways of life and all other religions.
Unitarian Universalism

 

[Lightcs1776]

Considering that Christmas is big in Japan, it may not be as big a deal as is assumed. I wouldn't be upset if someone wished me a Happy Hanukah.

Neither would I. In fact, I would probably wish them a happy Hanukkah as well. Most of my Jewish friends will wish me a happy Christmas, knowing that I celebrate the birth of Jesus. It doesn't have to be devisive, and we each don't need to ignore our faith or culture to make others feel OK, nor do others need to agree to have a friendship with those who think differently.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[mrlandpirate]

I'm on the coast and a pastafarian and say Merry Christmas to everyone

 

[Alacrity59]

I enjoy learning about people and sharing in their happy times. I've never heard offence when I say merry Christmas. But that is person to person standing right in front of somebody.

On line . . well . . . there seem to be points given to being offended by so so so much.

 

[Alacrity59]

View attachment 1042585
I'm on the coast and a pastafarian and say Merry Christmas to everyone

Happy Spaghetti monster to you too.

 

[FarmerTan]

Happy Spaghetti monster to you too.

Thanks. I needed that!

 

[FarmerTan]

View attachment 1042585
I'm on the coast and a pastafarian and say Merry Christmas to everyone

Save money on buying aluminium foil all the time!

 

[Raissermesser]

Nativity scenes being displayed on public property, not being banned altogether. If you are going to respect one religion on the public grounds, then you need to respect them all. I know that annoys some people to no end, but we have this pesky thing called the Constitution.

No. What we have is a thing of interpreting the US Constitution. The whole point of the Establishment Clause was to prevent a Church of the United States of America, similar to the Church of England, and state supported churches in Europe. In the years after the ratification of the US Constitution, some states continued supporting a particular denomination. Since the 1st Amendment begins "Congress shall make no law," it's pretty clear that the point was to limit the Federal government here. That opens up a particularly nasty can of worms when you read the entire 1st Amendment, but there it is. A lot of this limitation has been eroded by interpretations of the Fourteenth, even though "Congress" is specifically spelled out.

In any event, you can get a clear picture of how our founders saw the Establishment Clause by considering that Sunday services were held in various Federal buildings, including the US Capitol building. There was some objections to the US Marine Corp providing the music, but the issue was whether it set the right tone, not the Establishment Clause. As these services weren't limited to one Christian sect, it was not seen as the Federal government setting up an official religion.

That's not how things are interpreted now, but it's good to look at history and see how it's changed.

 

[Raissermesser]

Happy Spaghetti monster to you too.

Are you Orthodox Pastafarian or Reformed Pastafarian? Reformed Pastafarians allow macaroni and cheese.

 

[Traveling Man]

The "war on Christmas" is propaganda BS perpetuated by a certain organization in whose best interest it is to keep the dullards stirred up and agitated.
There might be less than one tenth of one percent of people who would be offended by being wished a Merry Christmas, but the chances of randomly encountering someone legitimately upset is next to nil.
If you walked by the entire population and said "Happy/Merry/Good whatever" the overwhelming response would be either "thanks" - "you, too" - "huh?" - or simply ignored.

 

[Raissermesser]

The constitution does not protect you from being offended.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas gets treated with kid gloves because of fear that it might offend someone. Whether or not saying "Christmas" or recognizing that many schools and businesses are closed at Christmas, or pointing out that Christmas is a big source of retail sales is offensive to non-Christians is only something that non-Christians who don't observe Christmas can answer. If it is, it is, but I think we should hear that from non-Christians and not just assume that's the case.

Today I received notice about restrictions on lane closures for the "Winter Holidays," even though one is very clearly Christmas and the other New Year's. What's the harm in just saying Christmas and New Year's?

 

[Raissermesser]

The "war on Christmas" is propaganda BS perpetuated by a certain organization in whose best interest it is to keep the dullards stirred up and agitated.
There might be less than one tenth of one percent of people who would be offended by being wished a Merry Christmas, but the chances of randomly encountering someone legitimately upset is next to nil.
If you walked by the entire population and said "Happy/Merry/Good whatever" the overwhelming response would be either "thanks" - "you, too" - "huh?" - or simply ignored.

Over the years there's been a school that first refused to allow a child to display their drawing of a manger scene with those of the other students, and when they relented, covered it with a flap of paper. We've had retailers promote their products for Christmas purchases, but then refuse to call it Christmas. We've had a VA hospital refuse to accept Christmas cards. And yet we're supposed to believe there's no war on Christmas.

 

[Traveling Man]

Over the years there's been a school that first refused to allow a child to display their drawing of a manger scene with those of the other students, and when they relented, covered it with a flap of paper. We've had retailers promote their products for Christmas purchases, but then refuse to call it Christmas. We've had a VA hospital refuse to accept Christmas cards. And yet we're supposed to believe there's no war on Christmas.

Depends on which "news" sources you frequent and how predisposed you are to be worked up about a non issue.

 

[Bhugo]

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I'm on the coast and a pastafarian and say Merry Christmas to everyone

Love it!

 

[Brompton]

Happy Everything!

 

[FarmerTan]

Happy Everything!

Post of the decade.

 

[RigelDust]

Over the years there's been a school that first refused to allow a child to display their drawing of a manger scene with those of the other students, and when they relented, covered it with a flap of paper. We've had retailers promote their products for Christmas purchases, but then refuse to call it Christmas. We've had a VA hospital refuse to accept Christmas cards. And yet we're supposed to believe there's no war on Christmas.

Doesn’t seem like an intense war. Doesn’t seem like a war at all.