Leave Christmas alone!
All ye readers of this blog know where I'm coming from politically and socially; basically what type of person I sort of am-- and a Christian I am not. That said, I agree with Bill O'Reilly and others like him who are up in arms over these latest attacks against Christmas.
Everybody knows that with the exception of a small number of devout Christians, Christmas is practically a secular holiday. We also know that this is a majority Christian country, so nobody should be surprised when Christmas spirit time comes rolling by. True, there is separation of Church and state, but really, what's the big deal if there is a Christmas tree in a semi-public space? I simply see it as seasonal decoration, just like a few weeks ago people festooned downtown areas with paper turkeys, or before that Halloween stuff.
I suspect that the anti-Christmas forces-- who represent a large cross-section of Americans all of whom have their own reasons for behaving like Grinches-- are going to actually invite a pro-Christmas backlash. Ha ha!
The weird part of all of this is that if there was no Christmas spirit this year, I'D feel like something was missing, like I was living in the Twilight Zone. I grew up here. I'm used to it. I have fond memories of playing with action figures near a sparkling pine tree with my non-Jewish friends. If Christians want to drag dead pine trees into their homes and then decorate them, I say great. At least they can't accuse us Jews of having strange traditions without being hypocrites; because what, really, is weirder than dragging giant dead trees into one's home for a couple of weeks? Well, building a roofless flimsy fort in the coldness of a fall is pretty strange.... but I digress.
Finally, renaming a Christmas tree a "Holiday" tree is completely asinine. Just call it what it is. Do they think we are idiots? (Yes, "they" do, actually).
Addendum
I’m not writing this pro-Christmas rant to act like some house Jew, trying to ingratiate himself with the Christian majority; a sort of “Hey, this Jew is okay with Christmas-- don’t toss him into a concentration camp!” No, I wrote the above because I believe it. If we don’t stop the uber-secular-ACLU inspired assault on many of our basic traditions, the next thing you know ALL legal tender will be changed because it mentions God. At a certain point we have to allow some harmless traditions to remain, because they are part of our cultural and historical legacy. It has nothing to do with whether you believe in God, or trust Him; it has to do with respect for history and tradition.
Everybody knows that with the exception of a small number of devout Christians, Christmas is practically a secular holiday. We also know that this is a majority Christian country, so nobody should be surprised when Christmas spirit time comes rolling by. True, there is separation of Church and state, but really, what's the big deal if there is a Christmas tree in a semi-public space? I simply see it as seasonal decoration, just like a few weeks ago people festooned downtown areas with paper turkeys, or before that Halloween stuff.
I suspect that the anti-Christmas forces-- who represent a large cross-section of Americans all of whom have their own reasons for behaving like Grinches-- are going to actually invite a pro-Christmas backlash. Ha ha!
The weird part of all of this is that if there was no Christmas spirit this year, I'D feel like something was missing, like I was living in the Twilight Zone. I grew up here. I'm used to it. I have fond memories of playing with action figures near a sparkling pine tree with my non-Jewish friends. If Christians want to drag dead pine trees into their homes and then decorate them, I say great. At least they can't accuse us Jews of having strange traditions without being hypocrites; because what, really, is weirder than dragging giant dead trees into one's home for a couple of weeks? Well, building a roofless flimsy fort in the coldness of a fall is pretty strange.... but I digress.
Finally, renaming a Christmas tree a "Holiday" tree is completely asinine. Just call it what it is. Do they think we are idiots? (Yes, "they" do, actually).
Addendum
I’m not writing this pro-Christmas rant to act like some house Jew, trying to ingratiate himself with the Christian majority; a sort of “Hey, this Jew is okay with Christmas-- don’t toss him into a concentration camp!” No, I wrote the above because I believe it. If we don’t stop the uber-secular-ACLU inspired assault on many of our basic traditions, the next thing you know ALL legal tender will be changed because it mentions God. At a certain point we have to allow some harmless traditions to remain, because they are part of our cultural and historical legacy. It has nothing to do with whether you believe in God, or trust Him; it has to do with respect for history and tradition.
posted by semite1973 at 6:05 AM
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