It is that time of year again when the fundamentalist Christians start their annual complaining about the so called "War On Christmas". Well the first salvo has been fired with Starbucks changing their traditional Christmas themed cups to a plain red cup. So here's the thing, Starbucks deciding not to put 'traditional' Christmas decorations on their cups doesn't mean they hate Christmas. Neither does someone saying "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas", putting up menorahs, using Santa Clause or not just wanting to celebrate the holiday. The true "War on Christmas" is the greed that stores show when they start their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving or when shoppers trample each other for "deals". If you guys really cared about Christmas, you would have stopped the commercialization of it decades ago instead of complaining about how people are missing the point of Christmas today.
This may be entirely limited to my own orbit, but the worst xmas excesses I can think of are perpetrated by christians. The most lights, the biggest trees, the most indulged children, the biggest feasts, etc. I agree that the war action comes from the thoughtless consumerism, not from those who would like to see it shared (by all faiths and creeds - hence the plain cups). Whether it's called 'holiday', or 'festivus' or 'xmas', or 'solstice', the occassion will always be with us - it's incredibly ancient and has never disappeared. it can however, be made trashy by excess.
So you guys think that the liberals attempt to remove Christ from the holiday is a myth? I hope you say yes
I have no idea if some 'liberals' want to take the jesus out of 25th december. I really don't care what woo elements are catered to - because it's irrelevant. I say all perspectives are welcome - jesus as much as the original paganism. the occassion is simply a very old european festival - who or what you worship (if anything) privately is of no consequence. you worship jesus at xmas at your house, others say thanks to nature. Doesn't change the occassion
I love Christmas! I can't imagine how lame a person must be to dislike both Christmas and consumerism. And why complain about commercialism when some of the neatest Christmas traditions literally were invented to make commercials? Just sit back and enjoy the ride. It's Christmas!
To me it is silly to be offended that Starbucks had festive scenes on the cups previously, just as it is silly to be offend that now Starbucks just has cups with Christmas colors. I see it as pole vaulting over mouse turds... aka overreaction.
Christmas is all about silliness. From ancient man seeing a virgin birth occur in the stars to elves and magical flying reindeer to the more modern traditions of battling other customers to the death over discounted present ideas and overreacting when someone wishes you a happy day without calling it "Christmas". It's all about silliness and that's what it is. As an atheist, I was annoyed when my manager told us not to say "Merry Christmas" to restaurant goers all those years ago when Bill O'Reilly first started talking about the war on Christmas. I said it anyway, because whether you're Jewish, Muslim, or a celebrater of Kwanzaa, you don't like it when incompetent people are promoted to a position of superiority and are able to make idiotic decisions like that. The following year, that same manager made sure we all knew it was ok to say "Merry Christmas", something I feel would not have happened if O'Reilly had not made such an issue of it. Store managers honestly are not intelligent enough on their own to realize it is a dumb idea to ban saying "Merry Christmas" and the overreaction is a necessary remedy for this ignorance.
Jesus was not even born on the 25th November...he was born in October.... Anyway...Merry Christmas everyone...
I have no clue what you're talking about. I'm referring my orbit in a previously/ostensibly 'christian country'.
You said that only christians go to christmas excess. I doubt there are many people other than christians who celebrate Christmas period.
Big retail companies celebrates Christmas no matter what their personal beliefs. Wall Street celebrates Christmas. It's completely asinine for Christians to moan about Wars on Christmas and wail about Starbucks not properly celebrating on their coffee cups in the first week of November. Next they'll be wailing about the "war," when Macys doesn't put up their Christmas decorations in October ... Tempest is a f**king teacup, indeed.
you're kidding, right? I live in a mostly atheist nation and we LOVE Christmas. incidentally, we have a good number of Buddhists and muslims here, and they love xmas just as much as we do. the festival is universal - and we all regard it as we will. solstice, jesus, nature, the end of the working/school year, or simply a celebration of family. the overlaying of various mythologies just makes it more interesting.
If you are celebrating a holiday you don't believe in, then everything you do is an excess because it is more than necessary.
The Starbucks things makes my laugh. Starbucks goes from printing pagan symbols on their cups to just going to red, and Christians are like "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMFFFFFFFFFFFFFFGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG WAR ON TEH CHRIST!!!!1111111" Nevermind the Christman tree is pagan. Nevermind that mistletoe is pagan. Nevermind that the holiday itself is pagan. I mean, what the (*)(*)(*)(*). Mind blowingly stupid.
what on earth do you mean by 'celebrating a holiday you don't believe it'. it happens every year, on Dec 25th, no matter what I believe or don't believe. does a Christians lack of belief in paganism mean they shouldn't celebrate the solstice on the 25th Dec? further, the only excess my family indulges at xmas is more vegetables are taken from the garden, more friends and family are seen, and slightly more wine is consumed. gifts are either recycled or home-made, and are always modest. we use a man-made tree we found on the kerb about 10 years ago, and still use the same decorations that were on it when we found it. our few xmas lights are solar powered, and about 15 years old (also found on kerbside). for us it's about people, good food, a little wine, and a nod to our northern European pagan ancestors. and if we're not too tired, we go to midnight mass at our nearest large cathedral - to listen to the all male choir sing 'silent night' and hear the fully sung service, amidst the solemn pageantry of the high catholic church, in a very beautiful and grand building. ===
I agree that people who wage a war on Xmas are misguided. After all, Xmas is largely a pagan holiday anyhow. I'm atheist and I celebrate Xmas!!! Goes to show you how secular Xmas actually is. Of course, the people who complain about the war on Xmas are usually far more offensive than the people who are waging that war.
Is this thread about Christians being a tad butt hurt because Starbucks didn't include Christmassy motifs on their coffee cups?
