End Christmas as a Holiday?
POSTED BY: NewOldBrownCoat
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 2, 2025 23:28
VIEWED: 9880
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Excuse me?
Kelkhil
The Shirtless Forsaken
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Why? It coincides with a whole bunch of different religious holidays, it's recognised all over the world - even in places where it's not celebrated - and it's fun! Why ban it?
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Well, ok, maybe it posted a blank message on me. here goes.
saw this on The Christian Science Monitor editorial page, linked thru Google opinions;
Quote:
Last , and most important to me personally, is that ending Christmas as a legal holiday would force those of us who are Christians to identify ourselves as such. All Christians - practicing or nominal - would be faced with the decision to take Dec. 24 and 25 as personal days. How many would honor their faith and respect their traditions by doing so?
Well, it is Favortism. Why now make the most holy day of Judaism, or Islam, or Buddhism, or you get the idea, a legal holiday, too?
But, make it real. If Christians had to ctually sacrifice to celebrate the Day, would they? Didn't JC say it wasn't gonna be easy to follow?
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Well, can't really comment on that because I'm not Christian. I was raised Catholic though, like just about everyone else here. I don't know how it is Stateside, but in Ireland people who would never walk inside a church except for weddings or funerals show up to Mass every Christmas without exception. It gets so crowded that one church in Dublin is threatening to make the Christmas Eve vigil mass a ticket only event!
I think most people would take the days. But they wouldn't do it for religious reasons, they'd do it because they'd always done it. They'd do it because Christmas has become far more all-embracing than a Christian feast day. They'd do it because every year the whole family sits down and has dinner together and the kids get presents and that's simply how it's done. And they'd add the fact that they have to take it as a personal day to the list of Christmas-related gripes.
Since people of other religions would have to take their own religious holidays it would also mean that everything would break apart pretty quickly. It would be a shame if a universal holiday like Christmas became broken up along religious lines.
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Speaking as a Christian, I would say, no, I probably would not. And here's why: Christianity (Biblical Christianity, that is) doesn't have special days. Yes, that's right: no special days. You will not find a New Testament reference to celebrating Christmas, or Easter, or Good Friday, or any other special day. That's because Christianity as biblically expressed isn't a ritual-heavy religion. The only real rituals prescribed are baptism and communion.
Reason 2: Christmas isn't about Jesus--it's about putting down pagan religious practices (historically speaking) and about consumerism (speaking contemporarily). Most scholars (conservative and otherwise) agree that Jesus was not born on December 25th. But guess who was? Sol Invictus, the Roman God of the Undefeated Sun, whose birth was celebrated every December the 25th in a celebration called Saturnalia, during which Romans gave gifts to one another and decorated their temples with greenery. So if you've recently been named the official state religion of the Roman Empire (380 CE), and you want to stamp out the pagan religions, do you persecute them? Of course not! That will only encourage them. Instead, you co-opt their holidays and make them your own.
So, I guess, no, I would not take days off work. Because biblical Christian doesn't command me to. It's a made up holiday meant to help the Roman state consolidate power between the failing Empire and a corrupted church. And it's continued into this century and our culture as an excuse for an orgy of consumerism. I aim to follow in the example of Jesus, and that's got nothing to do with ritualizing days and feasts. It has to do with loving those who are unlovely and reaching out to the poor, the oppressed and the lost.
/Rant
________________________________________________________________________
Grand High Poobah of the Mythical Land of Iowa, and Keeper of State Secrets
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No takers?
________________________________________________________________________
Grand High Poobah of the Mythical Land of Iowa, and Keeper of State Secrets
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Hey, I'm for ANY reason to take off work and be nice to people! So keep the days off, just call it something else.
---------------------------------
Reality sucks. Especially when it contradicts our cherished ideas.
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Yeah. My local shopping centre calls it's Christmas lights "Winter lights" so they don't get given out to for lighting them in November 
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Quote:Hammer meet nail head.
Originally posted by Causal:
Speaking as a Christian, I would say, no, I probably would not. And here's why: Christianity (Biblical Christianity, that is) doesn't have special days. Yes, that's right: no special days. You will not find a New Testament reference to celebrating Christmas, or Easter, or Good Friday, or any other special day. That's because Christianity as biblically expressed isn't a ritual-heavy religion. The only real rituals prescribed are baptism and communion.
Reason 2: Christmas isn't about Jesus--it's about putting down pagan religious practices (historically speaking) and about consumerism (speaking contemporarily). Most scholars (conservative and otherwise) agree that Jesus was not born on December 25th. But guess who was? Sol Invictus, the Roman God of the Undefeated Sun, whose birth was celebrated every December the 25th in a celebration called Saturnalia, during which Romans gave gifts to one another and decorated their temples with greenery. So if you've recently been named the official state religion of the Roman Empire (380 CE), and you want to stamp out the pagan religions, do you persecute them? Of course not! That will only encourage them. Instead, you co-opt their holidays and make them your own.
So, I guess, no, I would not take days off work. Because biblical Christian doesn't command me to. It's a made up holiday meant to help the Roman state consolidate power between the failing Empire and a corrupted church. And it's continued into this century and our culture as an excuse for an orgy of consumerism. I aim to follow in the example of Jesus, and that's got nothing to do with ritualizing days and feasts. It has to do with loving those who are unlovely and reaching out to the poor, the oppressed and the lost.
Frankly I'll do what I do right now, say I'll work, not take any time off and not go in anyway. My job is in support of civil servants, and those bastards don't turn up for work when they're supposed too, frankly I can sit at home and do nothing just as effectively as I can in London. And since the guys who wear the stripes always get leave or work elsewhere anyway they don't know.
More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.
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