I'm conflicted about Christmas. I'm not Christian; I am not religious at all. I am in fact rabidly secularist; I generally think public expression of any religion tends to isolate and divide people. But I see Christmas as much more a secular celebration and an orgy of commercialism than a religious observance. I don't like the commercialism; even though it is not my religion, I find it offensive to drag someone else's holy things into the muck of advertising and profiteering. At the same time I don't like the pushy Christians who tell me to "put the Christ back in Christmas". I just wish the whole thing could be a much smaller and more private fuss.
With all that, though, I don't think I've ever been offended that someone has wished me a merry Christmas or felt that by saying merry Christmas they're assuming I'm Christian. Most of the time it's an empty politeness and bothers me much less than people who don't actually want to know asking how I am, and the rest of the time it seems to be an honest wish to enjoy the time. If someone with Jewish roots wishes me a happy Channukah, I don't take offense or assume that they think I'm Jewish. If a pagan were to say Blessed Be, I might be thrown off a bit because I'm just not used to it, but I wouldn't be offended or think they were assuming I was pagan. I feel the same way about merry Christmas. Frankly, it bothers me more when people make a point of saying happy holidays because that feels so artificial, santitized, and politically correct.
Maybe I'm just screwed up. I want "under God" out of the Pledge and "In God We Trust" off our money and I find preachers in the public square offensive, but I can't get worked up over people saying merry Christmas.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-12-22 03:32 am (UTC)With all that, though, I don't think I've ever been offended that someone has wished me a merry Christmas or felt that by saying merry Christmas they're assuming I'm Christian. Most of the time it's an empty politeness and bothers me much less than people who don't actually want to know asking how I am, and the rest of the time it seems to be an honest wish to enjoy the time. If someone with Jewish roots wishes me a happy Channukah, I don't take offense or assume that they think I'm Jewish. If a pagan were to say Blessed Be, I might be thrown off a bit because I'm just not used to it, but I wouldn't be offended or think they were assuming I was pagan. I feel the same way about merry Christmas. Frankly, it bothers me more when people make a point of saying happy holidays because that feels so artificial, santitized, and politically correct.
Maybe I'm just screwed up. I want "under God" out of the Pledge and "In God We Trust" off our money and I find preachers in the public square offensive, but I can't get worked up over people saying merry Christmas.