Want to start a conversational nuclear war? Just say Merry Christmas in a crowded room of strangers. Men will rant, women will scream and children will cry at the very thought such a crude statement, so insensitive to all the other religions potentially present, would dare be uttered. How exclusionary! How insensitive! How oppressive!
Such is often the case in our country and world these days. Freedom of religion has morphed into a more exclusionary version of what is now freedom from religion. That is, fear of religion.
What is everyone so afraid of?
If someone wishes you a Merry Christmas and you are not Christian, has some great insult been hurled upon you or rather, has someone tried to share their joy of the season with you in a way that is meaningful to them?
If someone of the Jewish faith wishes you a Happy Hanukah, have they foisted upon you an oppression from which only years of intensive psychotherapy can cure or, have they too expressed their joy from their perspective?
Since when did an expression of joy for a season or a holiday come with the pre-requisite the sender have a thorough background check done on the recipients’ religious history to make sure it fully complies with their beliefs?
Ah but, the naysayers have derived a wonderful solution to the risk of such a terrible affront. We can just say, “Happy Holidays”. To that end, we have all been assaulted by the chronically offended among us to accept and believe this to be the non-offensive, homogeneous phrase we can all embrace.
Hogwash.
Nothing can be inclusive if everything is excluded. If the argument is this phrase includes ALL religious holidays, should someone not be MORE offended since so many holidays they do not celebrate have just been foisted upon them?! If not, then the next logical conclusion is this phrase is holiday neutral, meaning, none are included. So what then, is the point of uttering the phrase at all. If everything is excluded, how then is anyone to feel Happy about some non-descript, non-existent holiday. Kind of like saying, “Have a nice day” but, it happens to be winter when you do.
Imagine it now, a holiday filled with no symbols, no traditions and no meaning to anyone whatsoever. Yeah! We have eliminated the risk of offending everyone. Happy Holidays, indeed.
The fact of the matter is, when someone wishes you a Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukah or any other religiously based holiday expression, it is an expression of celebration and joy being shared with you. Whether you are of that particular religion, another or none at all (yes Atheists, I am talking to you), it is meant with no ill will. You could even look at it as an invitation to share your own beliefs right there on the spot.
And you know what, it will likely be received as your gift of yourself to that recipient.
The more we get out of our own way and let people simply express joy and happiness, the better this world will be.
Keep seeking out vacuous, meaningless terms to describe non-existent things and you will get exactly that…meaningless non-existence for all.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Such is often the case in our country and world these days. Freedom of religion has morphed into a more exclusionary version of what is now freedom from religion. That is, fear of religion.
What is everyone so afraid of?
If someone wishes you a Merry Christmas and you are not Christian, has some great insult been hurled upon you or rather, has someone tried to share their joy of the season with you in a way that is meaningful to them?
If someone of the Jewish faith wishes you a Happy Hanukah, have they foisted upon you an oppression from which only years of intensive psychotherapy can cure or, have they too expressed their joy from their perspective?
Since when did an expression of joy for a season or a holiday come with the pre-requisite the sender have a thorough background check done on the recipients’ religious history to make sure it fully complies with their beliefs?
Ah but, the naysayers have derived a wonderful solution to the risk of such a terrible affront. We can just say, “Happy Holidays”. To that end, we have all been assaulted by the chronically offended among us to accept and believe this to be the non-offensive, homogeneous phrase we can all embrace.
Hogwash.
Nothing can be inclusive if everything is excluded. If the argument is this phrase includes ALL religious holidays, should someone not be MORE offended since so many holidays they do not celebrate have just been foisted upon them?! If not, then the next logical conclusion is this phrase is holiday neutral, meaning, none are included. So what then, is the point of uttering the phrase at all. If everything is excluded, how then is anyone to feel Happy about some non-descript, non-existent holiday. Kind of like saying, “Have a nice day” but, it happens to be winter when you do.
Imagine it now, a holiday filled with no symbols, no traditions and no meaning to anyone whatsoever. Yeah! We have eliminated the risk of offending everyone. Happy Holidays, indeed.
The fact of the matter is, when someone wishes you a Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukah or any other religiously based holiday expression, it is an expression of celebration and joy being shared with you. Whether you are of that particular religion, another or none at all (yes Atheists, I am talking to you), it is meant with no ill will. You could even look at it as an invitation to share your own beliefs right there on the spot.
And you know what, it will likely be received as your gift of yourself to that recipient.
The more we get out of our own way and let people simply express joy and happiness, the better this world will be.
Keep seeking out vacuous, meaningless terms to describe non-existent things and you will get exactly that…meaningless non-existence for all.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
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