Loki, looks like it's your turn for me to pick on you :)
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You'll note that those objecting to the secularization of the holiday are those with a religious agenda that wish to reinforce their view of America as an exclusively Christian society.
Do you even know why we celebrate Christmas in the US? Better question, do you know why Federal buildings and banks close on Christmas? It's because Christmas was made into a federal holiday by none other President Ulysses S Grant and ratified by Congress.
"Why?" you may ask? Because the entire country was founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Christmas was made into a federal holiday to honor Him and the effect that He had on the founding and creation of this country. So what if 80% of our country considers themselves to be Christian? It's meant to honor the person who's teachings lead to documents such as the Declaration of Independance and the Bill of Rights.
Sorry if this sounds sacriligeous, but to me celebrating Christmas is no different than honoring Martin Luther King on Martin Luther King Day, Abraham Lincoln/George Washington on President's Day, war veterans on Veteran's Day, or any other federal holiday aimed at honoring an individual or a group of individuals.
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In the past in other regimes, people fought very hard against similar state postions that tended to marginalize those not aligned with state policy. Does anyone remember **** Germany or Soviet Russia?
Now forgive me if I'm wrong...but how does this relate to **** Germany or Soviet Russia exactly? If memory serves me right, those two dictatorships were based on exclusionism. No one in the US *ever* said that you *have* to celebrate Christmas. The way it looks to me, it's the people who try to get holidays like Christmas removed that are practicing exclusionism. That puts *them* in league with **** Germany and Soviet Russia than a Christian wishing to practice their faith.
The fact is, if you were an American citizen you could talk to your state/local/federal repreentatives to get it done. They can put it up for a vote. From there, it's the will of "the people" to get it passed or denied.
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The other poster here is correct that this holiday was hijacked by institutional Christianity in the first place as a means of displacing other cultures, pagans who used to celbrate the winter solstice in their godless fashion.
You've got it wrong, it wasn't the pagans. They also weren't trying to displace other cultures. Suprisingly, the date was moved in an attempt to gain a bigger following than...of all people...the Mithrans. Christians and Mithrans were both upcoming, competing religious sects at the time. In order to get a following greater than the Mithrans, they changed the date of their "holy day" to December 25th...the date of the Mithran holy day. Eventually, Christianity came out ahead and the Mithrans became extinct.
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I weep for my friends in America (I am Canadian) based on what I am seeing is a right wing fundamentalist agenda and the direction the country is headed. Its about time that we became a functioning, tolerant society once again.
I find it odd that you should say that.
Canada has prided itself on becoming increasingly liberal compared to America, but it always seems to bite them in the butt. With Vietnam, they touted their open borders and opposition to the war...yet complained when Americans fled there to avoid the draft. Over the past few years, they've touted lower drug costs compared to America...but complained that the costs are rising because more and more Americans are buying drugs from Canada.
Loki, you may not like the direction that America is headed. That's perfectly fine, you don't have to agree with it. Just know that it's headed that way because the people WE elected are making it head that way. If the country is heading in a direction that we don't like, WE are able to change it by voting. In other words, don't weep for them. Encourage them to get off their lazy asses and do something about it.