Monday, October 5, 2015

I pray you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season.................

Once again we are on the cusp of the holiday season and I'm bracing myself not for the crowds of shoppers but the hoards of complainers who somehow believe they have suffered personal persecution if met by a greeting of happy holidays!  This is just one more on the list of ways people are believing their religious beliefs have been attacked. 

Every day I read some complaint on Facebook that prayer has been taken out of schools.  That the Pledge of Allegiance has been rewritten to exclude "under God" or eliminated all together.  Yet as a substitute teacher I have recited the pledge (in its' original format) with the kids every single morning.  At last Friday's assembly the entire school recited the pledge together followed by a time for meditation, reflection and yes prayer.   

So, my question is what is wrong with people?   Are they misinformed or do they just not care whether the BS they spread on social media is correct or not?  It seems to me people would rather feed the flame with total disregard for the truth.

Our government has never issued a ban on saying "Merry Christmas".  No citizen has ever been arrested for wishing anyone a Merry Christmas.   But if a business chooses to use the more inclusive greeting of Happy Holidays some Christians lose their minds.  It's a business for Pete's sake....just like in advertising they are attempting to appeal to the greatest number of people and not every consumer in America is a Christian.  Go ahead, respond with a hearty "Merry Christmas" if you choose; no one is going to come running out from the shadows to shackle and put you in a stockade for public viewing.  

I'm still trying to figure out what the issue is about concerning prayer in school.  How can ANYONE be prohibited from praying?   If you want to pray you can pray anytime and anywhere.   So what's the beef?  Somehow I get the impression that there are some who don't consider you a "real" Christian if you aren't imposing your beliefs onto others.  Or at least that is what social media would lead you to think.   


 

2 comments:

Florence said...

Happy Holidays to you too! LOL!!!

Olga said...

Sure, I may look like a Christian, but that doesn't mean I am and it certainly does not mean I am going along with the "oh, poor us, persecuted Christians" thinking. And i am completely happy to celebrate Christmas in my own secular humanist way.