So I stopped saying anything to anyone.

It used to make me really angry because I’m not Christian either, although my anglo-middle class appearance might stereotype me to be one, but I know that people who are working are just trying to be polite when they say things.

THIS GOES FOR THE PEOPLE WHO SAY HAPPY HOLIDAYS TOO.

They’re sick of getting attacked (if they’re a store clerk) or getting SUED for goodness sake (if they’re a company).

SO HAVE SOME CHRISTIAN COMPASSION FOR THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE TRYING TO BE NICE, WHILE STILL PANDERING TO YOUR COMPULSION TO SHOP SHOP SHOP

We’ve made the world around us, so if you’re not happy with hearing Happy Holidays, then you better start up a new Crusade for the Holy Land.

OOOOh, Festivus. Can I visit after the dinner to watch the arm wrestling?

Can I call it or can I call it?

“I don’t believe that a Christian can be a member of the Democratic Party, as they are mutually exclusive.”

***************

Your posts lead me to think that Christians can’t be members of any thinking party for the same reason. BTW I found the survey again by simply Googling the exact words. It tool .58 seconds. Isn’t sloth a deadly sin?

I didn’t find the study you referred especially since you didn’t provide a title or link to it. And by your vicious conduct and demeanor, I’m sure I am not willing to take your word for what it says exactly or that you think a Christian is.

For example, I don’t believe that a Christian can be a member of the Democratic Party, as they are mutually exclusive. That eliminates a lot of Catholics and many alleged protestants.

If Christians were, as you say, in charge of the culture, abortion would not be legal.

Isis is pleased too celebrate the day X marks the Spot already.

Words to ponder and proclaim!

Remember, TRUE Christians eat their oats without sugar.

They will have no other choice but to bind together like all beleaguered minority groups do.”

************

What a pile of crap! Christians make up 79% of the US population according to the latest Pew Research Center survey and are responsible for the culture since their elected representative passed the laws and their cultural icons established the culture. What Tootie means is that the doltish, born-again crowd are in the minority culturally, intellectually, and in the thinking of mainstream Christians as well as most other folks. Most all us thank god for that little piece of grace. I think the whiner isn’t the Huffington Post but our own little Tootie!

Thank you for your kind wishes and I hope that whatever the Christmas season means to you and your family, that it brings you all joy and happiness.

It is odd about these sorts of things. I remember when Christians poo-pooed smoking decades ago. Liberally minded folks told them to sit down and shut up, and they did. Now liberals have seen to it that smoking is practically a crime.

Decades ago, especially during the hey day of Jerry Falwell, Christians were very vociferous about the commercialization of Christmas (as well as the icky nature of Halloween). The left, again, told the Christians to sit down and shut up. Now liberals have seen to it that whole holiday is to be twisted into a cultural negative, including the very words we use to celebrate even the meaningful aspects.

Gift giving is not a cultural oddity peculiar to Christians or America, so I don’t get overly anxious about celebrating it. Many cultures have such customs, though merchants here in America push the custom too far.

Most devout Christians make the Christmas story and church the center-piece of the celebration (as they always have).

What we see with the boycotting or lists is probably just another skirmish in the culture war that happens to be connected to a Christian holiday.

But I have a feeling that this sort of thing will get worse on both sides. Consider the whining going on by Arianna Huffington who wants Conservative books to be on a different list than…well…other peoples’ books?

I think there will be, soon, clearing houses on the internet for Christian businesses, doctors, and lawyers. And I think it will be because leftists and the totalitarian Marxist government they are creating will intentionally isolate Christians and conservatives.

They will have no other choice but to bind together like all beleaguered minority groups do. The Jews were famous for this throughout history. Hispanics continue to do this in our country, by greatly preferring their own businesses and professionals.

Factions. Ugg. It has always ruined a nation.

Multiculturalism is very bad. That is the whole point for why Christians resisted it.

We are a civilization in decline. That is why conservatism is a superior political philosophy for us in America, it preserves and conserves.

But all that is lost now. America is no more that good thing she once was because of our culture which has now been destroyed. My hope is for a reawakening! LOL

Thank you.

Merry Christmas and may God richly bless you!

I celebrate Christmas too. Merry Christmas to you–and Happy New Year!

Do all Christians fight the commercialization of Christmas? This Stand for Christmas effort seems to belie that. Why have some of them gone to the trouble of rating stores on whether or not their signs and employees say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays and then setting up a website at this time of year? Don’t actions like that play into the commercialization of Christmas?

“Here’s your shopping list for where to shop, shoppers.”

Christians already do the things you suggest. Merry Christmas to you!

you could go into the gift catalog business with that sampling of goodies. Yum.

I say boycott or don’t boycott or boycott the boycotters.

And I think that these big “Christian” Churches, what they call mega churches are mostly full of buffoons who wouldn’t know the teachings of Jesus from the teachings of Ramadingdongaling.

But I see nothing wrong with offering up a Merry Christmas, although I wouldn’t boycott a store for not saying it, unless of course they sold porn, alcohol, cigars, dancing shoes, playing cards and potatoe chips with trans fats.

Now Mary buys at Wal-Mart…
Joseph at J. C. Penney.
The Child is just a little babe—
He doesn’t shop at any.

The Magi frequent Target.
The shepherds like Lands’ End.
Thank heavens Stand for Christmas
Had some stores to recommend!

Maybe this group should be fighting the crass commercialization of Christmas instead!

Am I already on the list or do I need to provide my address? That sounds like an excellent gift.

The beer bread mix reminds me of spring break. (simply add beer and bake)

By way of confession, I probably am not going into any of the stores on the boycott list either, but for different reasons. Almost all of the gifts my little family gives out are home-made. It started out of being too poor to afford buying stuff for our huge extended family, but has ended up as one of our favorite parts of the whole season. This years baskets include a mix of: Cookies, bread, pear butter, jam, homemade pie filling, beer bread mix (simply add beer and bake), pickled green tomatoes, etc.
All that’s to say, I don’t care one wit if those people go into a store (except the one I work at, and that’s mainly because I like my job, and like having such a big beer selection near my house) but the instant you bring up your motivation for doing something, you give others the ability to agree or disagree with them.

From this hard-headed old atheist, To All a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy whatever to whomever…

As always–a sage perspective on a subject.

The Christmas season is now an enormous economic engine in which virtually everyone participates. In addition, our society is much more diverse than it was 50 years ago. The generic good wishes greeting holiday shoppers is industry’s recognition of those facts. It is not a conspiracy by atheists or Muslim provocateurs. It is not part of a concerted effort by separation of church and state purists to deride Christians or debase Christianity.

The answer to the original question, then, is that the quixotic effort at launching a boycott is driven solely by fear. Conservative Christians see the end of a Christian nation that never actually existed other than as a myth perpetuated by Norman Rockwell and Reader’s Digest. They realize that they can do nothing to end what they perceive to be the commercialization of religion, so they instead demand the religionization (I know, that’s not a word) of commerce. Businessmen owe no such duty.

What Gyges said is correct.

It is very pathetic. There’s a reason that Christians are told this is a big issue. If Bill-O told them to protest at the homes of bank executives his portfolio might get hurt and their lives might get better. So the war on Christmas takes the anger and defangs it, keeping people in their place, hating others in the same economic situation but who don’t agree with them on religion. Works like a charm.

Oh they should be free to boycott, and I should be free to call them spoiled brats and bullies. Freedom to do something is never freedom from criticism.

I know I read an article about a church in Virginia whose pastor did that.

Joel Osteen does a lot of that as well.

But the federal reserve really did it by letting interest rates remain low.

As you say, free will is not the equivalent of rational.

I dont disagree but people are free to boycott or not boycott. the reason is immaterial. If I was a store I would say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Someone always has an axe to grind. What is the difference between boycotting a store because they dont say merry C or they do?

I second Buddha and Gyges statements. I will also tell you something else. The wealthy banks targeted the poor. They even hired ministers (some of whom were made loan officers) to preach the gospel of prosperity and to talk up loans from the bank. They told people who trusted them that these loans were safe. The banks lied about payments, interest and income. That behavior should not be O.K. with anyone.

Many poor pay taxes, they most certainly pay sales tax in most states. If you only want to feel for the middle class I’m not going to argue with that. The middle class is getting screwed. So let me rephrase what I said above. Christians are commanded by Christ to serve the poor (middle class). Jesus never told anyone to go and buy a bunch of stuff and demand that anyone they buy it from say, “Merry Christmas”. How pathetic that this is what Christianity has become, the demand that consumer goods be purchased with the “correct” greeting attached to the purchase. Can you imagine how powerful it would be for these same people to get together and protest the impoverishment of the middle class by the wealthy? That would be a revolution.

if we are talking the fees then you are correct. The mortgage was rent they would have had to pay anyway, maybe a little higher I admit.

There were a good many middle class people that did the same thing. I hate to admit it but it was all about trying to make money on a false premise, namely the idea that we would have low interest rates and ever increasing property values in perpetuity.

And what really pisses me off is that it was done to finance the war. Interest rates were kept artificially low for this purpose.

We’re on the same side with this, you’re just looking at it backwards.
If this story was about a boycott against stores that say “Merry Christmas” I’d be saying very similar things as you. That’s not what it’s about though, it’s about a boycott of stores that don’t say Merry Christmas. It’s punishing companies for not participating in a ritual in the exact way that a certain subset of the culture wants them to.

Look it’s not like the stores aren’t already milking the Christmas season for all it’s worth. Look at the images they use, look at the slogans they use, their advertising for a solid month is all about Christmas. They are celebrating Christmas, just not in the exact way that these people want.

These are the tactics of a spoiled child, who throws a fit because their Mom put their favorite sandwich in front of them cut in half on the diagonal instead of from left to right.

That should be self-evident.

exactly how did the rich take from the poor in the mortgage problem? Seems to me they took from the middle class tax payers.

You wrote: “I know it is ok to not say Merry Christmas and I also know that Christmas was a pagan holiday.

I just think what is sauce for the gander is also sauce for the goose.

I have a feeling if everybody just lived and let lived things would be whole lot easier.”

I don’t understand whay you mean by sauce for the gander/goose comment so if you could expand on that I’d appreciate it.

As to your last point, I completely agree. That is exactly what a boycott of stores who won’t do what Christians want contradicts. A boycott cannot be called a live and let live. When Christianity focused on social justice they would have boycotted the banking industry for taking from the poor and giving to the rich. They would have stood in front of the homes of bankers, fat on taxpayer money, throwing people from their homes. This boycott shows how far fundamentalists have come from any real idea of what it means to be a Christian–helping the poor.

hol·i·day \ˈhä-lə-ˌdā, British usually ˈhä-lə-dē\, n., Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hāligdæg, from hālig holy + dæg day
Date: before 12th century

1 : holy day
2 : a day on which one is exempt from work; specifically : a day marked by a general suspension of work in commemoration of an event
3 chiefly British : vacation —often used in the phrase on holiday —often used in plural
4 : a period of exemption or relief

Since there are several holidays – by definition and multiple cultural traditions – that fall around the same time of year, the most inclusive set would be “Happy Holidays”. If Christmas WASN’T a holiday, I could see being upset. Since it IS a holiday, it’s like getting mad because someone said, “Nice shoes” instead of “Nice Brand X shoes”.

Zealotry knows no logic.

Christmas fail

I laughed my ass off all day

I know it is ok to not say Merry Christmas and I also know that Christmas was a pagan holiday.

I just think what is sauce for the gander is also sauce for the goose.

I have a feeling if everybody just lived and let lived things would be whole lot easier.

Why cant you just have all types of religious holiday displays in the public square? That is what the Virginia Statute on Religious freedom is all about. It is not about prosecuting/persecuting one religion or another.

I like Christmas, yes it is a holiday but it is also Christmas. This political correctness BS is just way out of hand. For Christ sake say it all, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Eid, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Nothingness, Merry Huckleberry, Happy Buddhism, Merry Jain, Happy Hindi. And if I forgot to mention a couple it was not on purpose.

This kind of thing just sucks the life out of everything it touches. My guess is that because Christmas is such a tool of the running dog capitalist pigs it must be destroyed.

That link about the WH cards is to a humor column. Not to be taken seriously.

No, bdaman couldn’t get me down if he had an army of clones behind him. He’s a pest sure, but he’s more in the roach category than the coyote category. It’s the simply staggering display of savagery by my fellow homo sapiens that has me down. I say homo sapiens because I don’t think “human” is an accurate description of their behavior.

Obama to let Congress decide if WH Xmas cards say “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas”.

1) Not all of your consitutients are Christian.

2) Kurtzman. Still the law until you get Roberts to declare this a Christian theocracy.

3) Candy ass. Make your own call. Oh, I keep forgetting. You’re under orders from industry.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-lanham/obama-to-let-congress-dec_b_381966.html

Bdaman got you down today?

And who’s still merry anyway?! First one I see is getting a couple of black eyes to empathize with the rest of humanity, probably should take your money too.