Is it really politically correct to say Happy Holidays, or is it just being polite?

[Astrogod07]

The thing is you being 'polite' to everyone except Christians, our beliefs, our traditions, and our holiday. what's more you have taken a day we have adopted to celibrate the birth of Christ, and devalued it.

If I am greeting someone that I do not know, why is it impolite to say "Happy Holidays?" If I am greeting someone I know is a Christian, I will say "Merry Christmas," but I usually don't if I don't know their religion. What if the person ends up being Jewish? From December 16th to the 24th, should I say "Happy Hanukkah" to every single person that I greet whether they celebrate that particular holiday or not? Does it devalue the Jewish Holiday to say "Happy Holidays" to them instead? There are several holy days close together celebrated by a wide range of faiths, and since I don't know what religion everyone is, the most logical greeting seems to be "Happy Holidays." It should be enough that I wish them well. Your thoughts?

[paulpablo]

I'm an atheist and I'd call it a christmas tree because it's a christmas tree, why would someone call a christmas tree anything else?
I don't see it as a christian custom of calling a christmas tree a christmas tree.
Maybe it sounds even more stupid to be because I'm English and in England the word holiday is often used to define a trip away from home, like a vacation. And a tree is hardly ever used to celebrate a trip away from home.
When I see a church I don't call it the stain glass windowed pointy topped building with a cross on top, I still call it a church even though I don't personally worship anything in there.

But anyway if people avoided using the word Christmas around me it depends who they were. If they were my friends then I'd find it very annoying, I'd probably straight away say "What the fuck are you talkin about holiday tree? You mean Christmas tree?".
If it was a manager in work or something, I'd probably just assume he was a politically correct guy who's terrified of offending Muslims and find that annoying too.

I think that me and most other people my age in England don't give a fuck about Christianity or it's traditions, but I doubt anyone wants to stop calling Christmas trees christmas trees. Christmas is something I've been surrounded by since childhood so to me it's not even a Christian tradition it's like my tradition, it's what I'm used to. I love the atmosphere of Christmas usually.
My ex girlfriend came from a Muslim family and she was CRAZY about christmas way more than me.

[C4RM5]

If someone says happy holiday it doesn't annoy me the slightest bit. It is a holiday, whzt does annoy me is when some people say wasps and bees are the same thing.

[vorlon13]

"Season's Beatings" always works for me and is good for a laugh. If anyone did confront me about it I would just start droning on and on about the one and only time I went shopping on Black Friday at 4AM and how awful it was.


Pious folks I work for get appropriate respect from me while I am in their homes cuz I likes money, and cash from christers spends just as well as that from apostates like me.

[Minimalist]

what's more you have taken a day we have adopted to celibrate the birth of Christ, and devalued it.

You stole it first, drippy.

http://www.motherbedford.com/Christmas.htm

In 350 A.D. Pope Julius I decreed that from that time forth the 25th of December would be acknowledged as the date of the Nativity. All of Christendom accepted that decree except for the Armenian church. To that denomination, the Nativity is celebrated on January 6 each year. It should be noted that Julius I's decree came only thirty-seven years after Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Toleration which effectively legalized the Christian religion. Prior to that time anyone who professed the Christian religion were persecuted. In 303 A.D. the Nativity was "celebrated" by Emperor Diocletian by having nearly 20,000 Christians burned to death.

The 25th of December was chosen by Pope Julius I partly to counter or replace the festivals normally celebrated on or near that date. The day was commonly known throughout the Persian Empire as the Dies Solis Invicti Nati, or the Birthday Of The Unconquered Sun. The Romans celebrated the Saturnalia at that time of year because a solar solstice occurs about that time. In Mesopotamia, the people celebrated their god Marduk's struggle against the forces of chaos. The Greeks believed that the latter part of December was when the god, Zeus would renew his annual battle against Kronos and the Titans. The effort by the Christian Pope to counter these established holidays with a solemn celebration of the Nativity was intended to purge the world of the debauchery and raucousness that they induced in the general populace. The Saturnalia, in particular, was very hedonistic; people indulged in all manner of (often drunken) revelries and gaiety. They indulged in parties and exchanged gifts with one another.

The intention of the Christian leaders like Pope Julius I was not to force a sudden change on the common people. Instead, they hoped to gradually replace the "pagan" customs with Christian ones. Gregory the Great wrote, in 597, that the pagan rituals not be removed "upon the sudden", but rather be adapted "to the praise of God." As a result of this approach, many of the traditions we indulge in today come from sources originally not part of the Christian tradition. The lights on the Christmas tree are descended from candles, which descend themselves from the Norse belief in lighting fires to help Woden and Thor battle the evil of winter. Presents given out at Christmas descends from the Saturnalian practice of exchanging gifts. The decoration of our homes with evergreens descends from the early Celtic belief that the harsh effects of winter could be wished away with the plants that did not lose their green color. The colors we cherish as Christmascolors, red and green, comes from the holly plant's berries and leaves. The holly plant was revered by the early Romans and hung about their houses during the Saturnalia, supposedly to ward off witchcraft.

Just regurgitated bullshit, drippy. You'll have to learn to deal with it.

[The Grand Nudger]

To help Thor and Odin battle Jotun.......winter was Jotun (and it comes at night, as a shadow). Jotun, to a man, have a geographical connection. "Jotun" appears to have been raiders, and the raiders appear to have given them shit in the winter (which I suppose makes sense, can't be bothered when you're busy growing crops - winter is downtime..and the Jotun gods all have agricultural counterparts of dubiously similar entymology in the pantheons of those neighboring civs). Skaði appears to have been scandinavian, Loki pan-celt. Other interpretations abound, of course.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Just remind him that Christmas is actually nothing to do with Christianity and is in fact just a basterdised holiday that's been cannibalised from the mythologies that came before it.

Much like literally every other holiday.

[vorlon13]

I note divorced and remarried 'christians' can be viewed as continuing some of the depravities associated with Saturnalia; fornication and adultery.

Praise Jesus and his absorptive holidays !!

[Jenny A]

I consider "Merry Christmas" an expression of the joy people have in their heart because of a very specific holiday, Christmas, and their desire to spread that joy, the Christmas spirit. Happy Holidays means the person tacitly accepts a walk on eggs culture that kills honesty and masks genuine sentiment with vapid euphemisms. If you don't believe in Christmas then say, "Have a Nice Day" and live honestly.

Nothing wrong with having a specific meaning in your heart for Christmas. But why worry when others say happy holidays, because that is was many of us mean, i.e. I hope you enjoy the holiday season which includes Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and New Years, not to mention a fair amount of non holiday specific school time off. And if I say it, yes I really do hope you enjoy the whole season Christmas included.



I enjoy Christmas myself.

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The thing is you being 'polite' to everyone except Christians, our beliefs, our traditions, and our holiday. what's more you have taken a day we have adopted to celibrate the birth of Christ, and devalued it. You take the tradition commericialize it and strip all of it's meaning. What other religion can soceity take a sacred day from, takes it's key elements/practices and discard the rest while going through the motions/rituals, and it not be mocked?

You not being polite. You are making a political statement that devaules a very specific religion and those who believe or want to set apart december 25 as being the day Christ was born.

Nonsense. If I know you are Christmas, I may wish you a merry Christmas specifically.

Happy holidays isn't meant to deprive you of Christmas, or to commercialize it. You Christians did that last bit long before "Happy Holidays." And it's a bit much to demand that everyone consider the December holidays from your point of view. Just be glad it's an official holiday unlike, say, Hanukkah. You're privileged. Don't whine.

[The Grand Nudger]

Don't interrupt his martyr complex Jenny...you'll just be "persecuting" him further. That said...

You take the tradition commericialize it and strip all of it's meaning.

Yeah...why -did- christians do that to the solstice holidays Drich? Got any insight?