Thursday, December 15, 2011

Happy Holidays (Updated)

I've been seeing a lot of unhappiness in the virtual world lately. Bloggers and Facebookers are fighting. Christians saying "Put Christ back in Christmas" and "It's Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays". Others are fighting back, and it's turning into a flame war.

Instead of snapping back with things like "Santa is a rip-off of Odin" or "It was a Pagan Solstice Tree long before it was a Christmas tree", take a deep breath. Try not to take up arms in the supposed "War on Christmas".

The phrase "Happy Holidays" isn't meant to take anything away from anyone, even Christians. It's meant to embrace every holiday in December. Christmas, Yule, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Festivus, Sol Invictus, and Saturnalia, just to name the ones I know of. There's probably more I don't. Taking offense to "Happy Holidays" shows off your bigotry. It says you are incapable of coexisting with someone different from yourself.

I actually believe in "all or nothing" when it comes to federal, state, county/parish, or city buildings. When displaying Christmas Trees or Nativities for the public, they should be inclusive of all religions represented by the people. Being tolerant does not mean hiding evidence of differences. It means showing off the differences, while putting them on equal footing with the others. Or, only put up secular decorations.

I get tired of hearing about Christians whining that they're being deprived of their holiday, of their religion. In reality, they are not. They are only being forced into equality with other religions that have holidays overlapping their own. As anyone who has researched can tell you, nearly all Christmas symbols were stolen from older pagan religions in an attempt to trick said pagans into converting. Including, but not limited to, decorating evergreen trees, giving gifts, waiting for a magical being/deity to punish or reward, and a miraculous birth.

I seriously think we all need to take a collective step back and mind our own business, instead of forcing everyone around ourselves to agree with us, or go away. Because trying to force people to conform to your beliefs is like trying to mix oil and water. It's impossible to do so. We're all different, and we're designed that way. It's time to get over ourselves, and just enjoy whatever holiday is important to us, secular or religious.


I changed my mind, and decided to have a video instead of a picture here. Enjoy!


No comments:

Post a Comment


Label Cloud

101 2011 2012 44 days of witchery ability activism agnosticism air alberta altar ancestor anubis apatheism apocalypse apollo aquarius arachne arts athame atheism athena autotheism autumn banner beliefs bigotry bottle burning times calendar canada candle celtic child children's christian christmas cleaning coexist common man correspondences crafts creation cryptozoology cycle dalai lama deism deity deity of the month demeter deucalion E3 egypt electronic entertainment expo electronics elements end of the world endymion equality equinox extinction feast festival festivus fires flood food fur g4 gaea gaming germany glass god goddess great flood great spirit greek green griffin halloween hanukkah health henotheism herbalism history holiday holidays hospitality instructions international internet irish italian jack o'lantern kathenotheism kwanzaa lakota lavender leather life luna magic magical place makoshika meatless monday microsoft minerva mjöllnir monolatrism monotheism mothers mythology native american nature norse oil oisin ostara pagan pagan values month paganism pandeism panentheism pantheism pelops pepitas persephone philosophy pipa pirate politics poll polydeism polytheism prayer prayer chain preternatural prophecy pumpkin pyrrha rant Recipes religion religious roman rules sabbat sacred element samhain saturnalia seasons seeds selene shrine sioux sol invictus solstice sopa spider spiritual element spiritualism spring stories sun sign sword of truth symbol tantalus thor three tir na nog tools triad trials trio triskele values vegan vegetarian veneration viking vinegar warlock water wax wheel wheel of the year wicca winter witch witchcraft wizard xenia year yule

Popular Posts