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Just out of curiosity, does anyone take issue with the "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year" on the city-data site at the moment? If you're, say, muslim, or Jewish, or Chinese?
Personally, I think it's nice of city-data, though that just struck me considering it's a web site for the world - Christian or not - to use.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone take issue with the "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year" on the city-data site at the moment? If you're, say, muslim, or Jewish, or Chinese?
Personally, I think it's nice of city-data, though that just struck me considering it's a web site for the world - Christian or not - to use.
*shrug* I'm atheist, but I don't care. The users on this site are predominantly American and Americans are predominantly Christian. Goes with the territory, I won't waste time being offended by it. It's silly.
I believe people are rather offended if they are treated in such a silly way. Forget political correctness by those journalists who have nothing better to do.
I was raised Christian but don't really practice/celebrate xmas (no kids, not married...only go to the church xmas eve ceremony when I'm visiting with my parents, etc.), so whatever floats your boat...I don't care one way or the other.
Besides, Christmas is part of culture and customs. It's very commercial anyway. The religious element is very small in many parts of the world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asabi
I was raised Christian but don't really practice/celebrate xmas (no kids, not married...only go to the church xmas eve ceremony when I'm visiting with my parents, etc.), so whatever floats your boat...I don't care one way or the other.
The users on this site are predominantly American and Americans are predominantly Christian. Goes with the territory, I won't waste time being offended by it. It's silly.
Agreed. If this were an Indian site, I would expect to see messages for the Hindu holidays. Ditto for Jewish holidays were it an Israeli site. It's just a simple greeting, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, well, it's the same as saying "Merry (non-Christmas) Tuesday" then.
The whole "Merry Christmas" thing really isn't an issue for 99% of Americans. It's the far extremists who try to make it into one. I've lived in very diverse communities my whole life, and never has any non-Christian I've known protested or had an adverse reaction to being wished a "Merry Christmas", as the extreme left would have you believe. Similarly, there's not a vast left wing conspiracy to eliminate the phrase from the lexicon, as the extreme right would have you believe. It's really not an issue for most people.
I also have to say that while I celebrate and love Christmas, I am not religious. While some Christians may shudder at the thought, to me, Christmas is cultural and has nothing to do with religion even if I realize the origins of it were in fact religious. I would say based on people's behavior at Christmas time (i.e. much more time in the shopping malls waiting in line to buy Jimmy an Xbox, as opposed to in church revering the birth of Christ), that is the case for the overwhelming majority of Americans as well.
It is pagan too. Read about Yule. Scandinavians call Christmas jul.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dullnboring
I also have to say that while I celebrate and love Christmas, I am not religious. While some Christians may shudder at the thought, to me, Christmas is cultural and has nothing to do with religion even if I realize the origins of it were in fact religious.
The whole "Merry Christmas" thing really isn't an issue for 99% of Americans. It's the far extremists who try to make it into one. I've lived in very diverse communities my whole life, and never has any non-Christian I've known protested or had an adverse reaction to being wished a "Merry Christmas", as the extreme left would have you believe. Similarly, there's not a vast left wing conspiracy to eliminate the phrase from the lexicon, as the extreme right would have you believe. It's really not an issue for most people.
It's kind of funny you bring that up. At my previous job, we would have the office 'holiday' party. One of the the older engineers (a devout Christian) objected so much to it being called 'holiday' that he protested coming if it wasn't changed. So, we changed it to the office 'Christmas' party and then one of the younger engineers (who happened to be Jewish) refused to come because it was now called a 'Christmas' party...Oi vey!!
I thought it was comical (of course to myself so as not to offend), but both seemed to be pretty passionate about it.
I also remember an incident where I said 'Happy Holidays' to a check out clerk and she promptly 'corrected' me by saying 'You mean, Merry Christmas'. I just said, okay and told her to have a nice day. So, it seems some people are sensitive to the issue.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone take issue with the "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year" on the city-data site at the moment? If you're, say, muslim, or Jewish, or Chinese?
Personally, I think it's nice of city-data, though that just struck me considering it's a web site for the world - Christian or not - to use.
Chinese is an ethnicity, I am (half) Chinese... I am agnostic, my grandma is Chinese and is a super faithful catholic, she hates it when i say I'm agnostic.
i used to go to church, I am maybe weakly catholic but I don't pray or go to church. I celebrate Christmas but i know Muslims who celebrate it cause its America. I don't base my life around religion. I barley even know what Christianity is about, like who killed who the bible stories or is Jesus god, and what not... I don't make too much of an effort to find out although i do think religion is interesting.
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