So Called War on Christmas
I don’t understand all of these problems about the “War on Christmas”.
Christmas is suppose to be a time of love and sharing. Isn’t that the message that Jesus taught? And yet, I constantly see messages from some Christians who demand that Christmas is a Christian holiday so keep your mitts off if you are not one.
I’m the same person I was when I was a Christian. Nothing about me changed except for my personal belief, which is just that… personal.
If Jesus taught to love and share, shouldn’t that pertain to the holiday that bears his name? What is wrong with sharing it with Pagans and Atheists?
No one is telling Christians they need change how they celebrate the holiday or practice their faith. Okay, there are some, but they are a minority. Has any Christian been told they can’t put up a Christmas tree or go to church on Christmas morning? Or hide their Bibles from anyone?
Most of us who believe in live and let live, no matter what our belief system is, are the majority.
Christmas is not an original holiday, it evolved over time blending traditions from many different cultures. Why is that bad?
With technology, the world will continue to get smaller and more of this will be happening. Again, why is that bad?
My feeling is that if your faith is strong in your own personal belief system, it shouldn’t matter what other people believe. But if you have a need to have everyone agree with you and believe the same thing as you do, then perhaps your faith isn’t as strong as you would like people to think.
And I know that there will people who will say the same thing back to me, that if my faith of my own personal belief system is strong, why I am objecting about what some conservative Christians demand? The difference is that I am trying to protect my own rights, to share with those who feel the way I do and let them know they are not alone. I am not demanding that anyone needs to become a Pagan or Atheist. I just don’t want Christians demanding that I have to give up who I am to become a Christian against my will. The same people who would object if I insisted they had to become a Pagan or Atheist against their will.
Christmas provides different things for different people, at a time when they need those kinds of things the most… of hope, of love, of sharing, of faith, and of peace. Why would anyone deny these things to others?
I have had friends and family members who have “disowned” me when they found out I wasn’t a Christian, and they seem to have this attitude too. I realize they just believe what they are being told to believe. I wish they would learn to think for themselves, and learn about the real history of their religion.
“Christmas is a contrived holiday. Most of it was taken by the Church to lure Pagans INTO the church.”
You’ll never be able to get some people to understand and except this. I have had people tell me that Christmas has been celebrated since that first Christmas when Jesus was born in a stable and and has been ever since then. And I’ve been a member of churches who actually teach that very same thing. But that’s not true. Christmas wasn’t even an occasion until the 4th century and not even a legal holiday in this country until the mid 1800's.
Two things that I study tend to come together especially this time of the year… History and world religions.
Christmas traditions come from many different cultures; Celtic, Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Armenian, Nordic, Germanic, Ancient European, and Mithraism. Mithras’ birthday was celebrated on Dec 25th, and this date along with the Pagan dates of Yule, Winter Solstice and Saturnalia, were all adopted in the 4th century by the church, to “encourage” non-Christians to convert. December 25th was designated as to be the celebration of Jesus’ birth, but it really isn’t his birthday and there is no mention of Christmas anywhere in the Bible. And it’s possible that the Nativity story in the Bible is just that… a story, and not a fact.
Before that, the only important feast day on the Christian calendar was Easter (also celebrated much differently then than it is now). But if you look at most Christians sites online, most of them omit all of that, and either state that Christmas is only a Christian holiday or that Christians should not celebrate Christmas because of it’s Pagan roots.
We all have roots and I’ll bet the way we live now is drastically different than they way our ancestors live. But do we disown them because they were different? Not usually.
But come Christmas time and it’s a whole different story. Including the ridiculous idea about what is printed on coffee cups.
We should celebrate our histories, especially at Christmastime.
I have English, Irish, Scottish, German, Dutch, French, South American, and Scandinavian roots and I love to learn about the traditions that came from my ancestors. But I also enjoy learning about traditions of other religions including Judaism and Islam. Just because I wouldn’t practice one of these religions, it doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate learning about their traditions.
Why are people so threatened by the past?