I disagree that it's the secularization of a specifically Christian holiday. *Christmas* is Christian - but Hanukka (which also involves presents and therefore is catered to by secular businesses) starts the 24th this year. New Year's is a secular holiday for which people also buy supplies. It's not inconceivable that Ramadan, which "moves" by our calendar can fall over the same time period and I think Diwali Mala might be a moveable holiday as well. Not to mention solstice on the 21st, which is one of the pagan Eight Greats and some others - I'd have to dig through my friends list to find whoever it was who listed ALL the holidays for all the religions he knew in December - it was some 20 entries long.
Each of those is a holy day to someone. Each of those has its own attached merchandising. So I disagree heartily with Bill O'Reilly that secular businesses must greet all of their customers with "Merry Christmas" when there's a conjunction of holidays, all of which those businesses are catering to.
And I certainly think he's being hypocritical to insist that non-Christians can't possibly be offended by the term "Merry Christmas" (except for some defectives who, he decrees, the stores don't want was shoppers anyway) whereas Christians for some reason are supposed to be mortally offended by hearing "Happy Holidays." Particularly since merry and happy are synonyms (they say "Happy Christmas" in Britain instead of "Merry Christmas") and Christmas *is* a holiday. Which means "holy day" so it REALLY boggles me that it's somehow demeaning to a holy day to refer to it as a holiday.
As for secularization of the public arena - the public arena belongs to the entire public, including the minority members. Public arenas are not churches, so why does anyone want them to serve the function of a church? It's not like there aren't plenty of churches to fill that function. And it's not like any of the churches are being muzzled, shut down, or limited in their Christmas displays. That's the biggest (and to me, one of the creepiest) things about O'Reilly's ratings-grabbing rantings about the "war on Christmas." Nobody is doing anything to stop the churches. (Except for what they're doing to themselves, ie, the megachurches which are shutting on Christmas Sunday.) When he talks, it's about business, it's about money, it's about who deserves what money. I don't know why O'Reilly mentions Christ at all, because what he's talking about is the almighty dollar. And Jesus had something very clear to say on that subject too.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-12-16 07:51 pm (UTC)Each of those is a holy day to someone. Each of those has its own attached merchandising. So I disagree heartily with Bill O'Reilly that secular businesses must greet all of their customers with "Merry Christmas" when there's a conjunction of holidays, all of which those businesses are catering to.
And I certainly think he's being hypocritical to insist that non-Christians can't possibly be offended by the term "Merry Christmas" (except for some defectives who, he decrees, the stores don't want was shoppers anyway) whereas Christians for some reason are supposed to be mortally offended by hearing "Happy Holidays." Particularly since merry and happy are synonyms (they say "Happy Christmas" in Britain instead of "Merry Christmas") and Christmas *is* a holiday. Which means "holy day" so it REALLY boggles me that it's somehow demeaning to a holy day to refer to it as a holiday.
As for secularization of the public arena - the public arena belongs to the entire public, including the minority members. Public arenas are not churches, so why does anyone want them to serve the function of a church? It's not like there aren't plenty of churches to fill that function. And it's not like any of the churches are being muzzled, shut down, or limited in their Christmas displays. That's the biggest (and to me, one of the creepiest) things about O'Reilly's ratings-grabbing rantings about the "war on Christmas." Nobody is doing anything to stop the churches. (Except for what they're doing to themselves, ie, the megachurches which are shutting on Christmas Sunday.) When he talks, it's about business, it's about money, it's about who deserves what money. I don't know why O'Reilly mentions Christ at all, because what he's talking about is the almighty dollar. And Jesus had something very clear to say on that subject too.