Do you say "Merry Christmas"?

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by brotherd

Say whatever the season means to you. But never tell me I can't say Merry Christmas.

Never would. a mutual respect for others is all that is required

[brotherd]

Agreed.

[Reefer Rob]

In Canada we have freedom of religion, nobody can tell me I can't celebrate Christmas, or any other religious event that involves eating like a pig and consuming large quantities of alcohol.

Merry Christmas!

[Treebeard]

Hmm, let me think about it...Merry Christmas!

[rishu_pepper]

Merry Christmas, everybody!

[Reef Pilot]

It is kind of sad this has even become a topic, not only here, but elsewhere in the media. For me, it's Merry Christmas. But am not offended either by Happy Holidays, or other expressions of joy with the season. To each, his own.

I am very much a freedom kind of guy, whether it is speech, what I do, or whatever, and don't much appreciate efforts by the media, politicians, anybody, to tell me what to say and how to think.

[toytech]

why jesus`s birthday is on the 25

Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the weeklong celebration. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.

B. The ancient Greek writer poet and historian Lucian (in his dialogue entitled Saturnalia) describes the festival’s observance in his time. In addition to human sacrifice, he mentions these customs: widespread intoxication; going from house to house while singing naked; rape and other sexual license; and consuming human-shaped biscuits (still produced in some English and most German bakeries during the Christmas season).

C. In the 4th century CE, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it. Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians.[2]

D. The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday


Sounds more civilized than Christmas with my family , but that's just me.

[daplatapus]

For personal and religious reasons I do not celebrate Christmas but totally understand that for many it is a very cherished time of year. But I am surprised at how many people are offended when I do not return the greeting but just say Thank You to their well wishes.

[Wheelman76]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

If someone says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas", I think it's important to note that they are still extending a friendly greeting and they're being nice. To me, I value inclusion. I might tell someone Merry Christmas, or I might tell them Happy Holidays, or Best of Season .. whatever I decide to say at the moment.Again, all of it is a friendly greeting, and whatever the words are chosen by someone else to say to me, I recognize it as friendliness and appreciate the gesture. I will never be offended by that.

I don't think there's a war on Christmas. I think some people react far too negatively to the concept of "politically correct." In fact, I think the irony here is that it's politically correct to complain about being politically correct. Rather, I see the whole "Happy Holidays" effort as being about inclusion and respect. But on the flip side, I've never known anyone in my whole life who was ever offended by being told "Merry Christmas" even if they themselves were not exactly of the Christian faith or whatever. All my friends always just appreciated the gesture of goodwill and friendliness (see paragraph #1 above). If your experience has been different then maybe you just need to meet nicer people!! Or you know what, make the choice to truly own the values you want to represent, and lead by example.

Just be nice to each other. It's really not that hard.

Peace out! And Happy Kwanzaa to all.

Well said!!

[Coasting]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Do you people actually know anyone who told you they were offended by you saying "Merry Christmas" or are you just sensitive to the issue when someone uses a different greeting?

A client where i used to work tore a strip out of us for saying Merry Christmas and offering him a flyer for Pet photos with Santa. He didnt celebrate christmas and he made sure we knew that after what we said. Appearently we were supposed to be psychic and know he was jewish and not say such horrid offensive words to him.

These people do exist.