British non-Christians against Christmas PC

[minakichan]

....Dunno if this is the right section.

British religious leaders don't support Christmas "Political Correctness"

Finally, a country with some common sense. Non-Christians and atheists don't all break out in hives every time someone says "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays." I think this will help promote tolerance on both sides of the fence. Heck, Japan is less anal about PC than the US, and they have a 2% Christian population! (And yes, I know Christmas isn't even a religious holiday to most Japanese, but still.)

(And I love British people!)

[Roy Mustang]

[quote="minakichan"]Heck, Japan is less anal about PC than the US, and they have a 2%]

That's because Christmas is widely observed in Japan, even if its not a religious holiday for them.

And really, the word Happy Holidays shouldn't be taken in a bad way. People forget that Holiday is derived from Middle English holidai meaning "holy day".

[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[minakichan]

Hm, I think the "Happy Holidays" thing is more the fact that people are only acknowledging Christmas and not Ramadan, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and the Winter Solstice, in that this exclusivity seems like religious prejudice.

[termyt]

In the same sense, we need not be offended by "Happy Holidays." The user of that phrase is not necessarily denying Christmas.

[EricTheFred]

Erm... Ramadan does not happen at Christmas time, so it doesn't belong in your listing. Actually, it can, since the Islamic calendar slowly rotates through the Solar year (I think every thirty or so years.) This year, it was in the September to October time-frame.

Kwanzaa is arguably the 'Islamic' holiday of this time, although it isn't technically Islamic. From what I understand, it began in the Afro-american Muslim communities as a sort of Christmas surrogate for their children (kind of the same reason Hannukah was raised from a minor festival to a big deal). But it isn't Islamic in nature, per se, so you really can't call it such any more.

When it comes right down to it, thanks to the Islamic year begin a completely different length then the majority of the world (i.e. the Gregorian, Judaic and various Asian calendars, which are all based on the same solar year) it just isn't possible to have an Islamic member of the list.

[Cap'n Nick]

This does sound like a good step toward a less indigestion-inducing Christmas, but it does fail to address the underlying issue of a government that exists for everyone's benefit and specialized systems (such as schools) which can only operate within the sphere of religious and intellectual consensus. It is much better to acknowledge and discuss this diversity than to tacitly forge a new consensus religion in the form of secularism.

[mitsuki lover]

I don't know what is wrong with saying Happy Holidays if one doesn't wish to say Merry Christmas.Either one is adequate for the season and
neither should be depricated.Then again we as a society are really getting too sensitive when it comes to Religion.

[Kat Walker]

Kwanzaa is arguably the 'Islamic' holiday of this time, although it isn't technically Islamic. From what I understand, it began in the Afro-american Muslim communities as a sort of Christmas surrogate for their children (kind of the same reason Hannukah was raised from a minor festival to a big deal). But it isn't Islamic in nature, per se, so you really can't call it such any more.

I think, actually, it was founded by a black secular humanist that wanted African-Americans to stop observing Christianity.

From the Wiki article:

In 1966 Karenga created Kwanzaa while living in California. There, he was the leader of the black nationalist US Organization and he claims that his goal was to give an alternative holiday to Christmas. He later stated, "...it was chosen to give a Black alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the religious practice of the dominant society."

But anyway, yeah, I don't get too upset over the "Happy Holidays" thing. It's not kicking Christmas out, it's simply being inclusive towards other festivals. Just as we wouldn't want non-Christians to walk all over us, we should be willing to show them the same respect.

Raising a fuss about "The War on Christmas" only makes us look bad. There's better hills for us to die on, politically speaking.