It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto... In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away."
-Ben Stein
"Well of course Christmas is about Christ you f***ing dolt! It's right there in the name of the f***ing holiday, isn't it? And just because I don't personally believe in the deity of Jesus, doesn't mean I can't have fun on the holiday celebrating his birth!"
- Sir Elton John
I was encouraged by one of my managers to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" so as not to offend anybody.
And as far as I'm concerned, they can kiss it.
Christmas is celebrated by 87% of the American population, according to CNN.com.
There has been a consistant push by certain folks to take Christ out of Christmas completely.
But do you see the first six letters in the word Christmas? What do they spell?
President Obama has decided to call the White House Christmas tree a "holiday tree," in an effort to have the first non-religious White House Christmas ever.
CHRISTMAS IS THE ONLY HOLIDAY WHERE ONE PUTS UP A TREE AND DECORATES IT.
While I understand the sentiments, the execution is all wrong. In order to make Christmas all inclusive you're going to alienate those that feel most passionate about it? FAIL.
Calling it a holiday tree is absurd. It's like calling 4th of July fireworks, "Celebration Explosions." It completely takes the meaning out of the object(s), thus causing them to be completely pointless.
And since its a holiday tree, should I put one up on St. Patrick's Day? Martin Luther King Jr. Day? Armistice Day? In commemoration of May 25, 1977 when Star Wars hit theaters?
Speaking of which, have you ever wondered how we got the tradition of putting up a live pine tree in our homes and decorating it in memory of Christ's birth?
Well, upon doing decades of research and logging thousands of hours in a lab, I have discovered its origin:
Pagan ritual.
It was originally derived from the Roman Saturnalia, a feast in which the Romans celebrated the dedication of the temple to the Roman god Saturn. They would bring Evergreen coniferous trees into homes for the feast as a reminder that Saturn is able to destroy and that all things in nature are to be respected.
How cutting down and subsequantly killing a pine tree accomplishes this is beyond me...
The custom of erecting a Christmas tree can be traced to 16th century Northern Germany, though neither an inventor nor a single town can be identified as the sole origin for the tradition. The tradition spread rapidly throughout Germany and abroad. "It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, that it spread rapidly and grew into a general German custom, which was soon accepted also by the Slavic people of Eastern Europe…" (James Hewitt, The Christmas Tree, 2007, p. 12).
As it spread throughout Europe, the Roman Catholic Church tried to ban it, calling it idolatry (ironic?). But they gave up rather quickly noting the popularity of the Christmas tree and fully accepted the practice in the early 18th century.
Thus, with the chuurch accepting the Christmas tree, it quickly became a staple in Christian, and non-Christian homes alike.
However, it has always been called a Christmas tree since the 16th century.
So, why do we feel the need to change it now?
I, like Ben Stein, am tired of being made to feel that I am offending people by sharing my beliefs, and for believing in God.
If you don't believe in God, that's fine. Just stop trying to censor my beliefs by sanitizing literally every single aspect of Christmas that has references to Christ.
I have no problem with Santa Claus, Mistletoe, Yule Logs, and other forms of Christmas celebration that have nothing to do with Christ's birth. But I do have a problem with a government that is trying to completely censor Christ out of Christmas.
Eric Metaxes, former editor of the Record at Yale University, put it this way: "If President Obama wanted to fuel the fears of every serious Christian in America and actually prove that he is every bad thing they've ever heard about him on every crazy Web site, the idea of symbolically taking Jesus out of the White House at Christmas would be just the ticket!"
Trust me people, the Christian church is a sleeping giant.
If we continue to get our rights trampled on, in favor of "equality" we will fight back.
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