Show Us Some Respect

First of all let's get something straight. Christmas is not a "Winter Holiday" no matter what some may think or wish. Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, according to the New Testament of the Holy Bible. All the sophistry in the world cannot remove that fact from Christmas. Nowhere in the Bible are Christians told to celebrate this birth. In fact the New Testament enjoins Christians to celebrate one thing only: Communion. Not Easter, Lent, nor any of a host of festivals and celebrations that Christians have chosen to celebrate over the last two thousand years. But Christians do celebrate Christmas.

Having said that, let's move on a tad, shall we? A little investigation will show the faithful Christian that Jesus was not born in December - not under the Julian calendar nor under the Gregorian calendar. By all textual readings, the evidence is that Jesus was probably born in late August or early September. So we know that the celebration of Christmas is flawed from a standpoint of the time of the year. Is this important? No. Christmas is celebrated to mark the birth of Jesus, not to commemorate a particular time of the year. (For a similar problem, take a look at the timing of Good Friday and Easter)

Now, we know that one of the red herrings used by the Faithless has been to forward the claim that Christmas was simply laid over the Pagan celebration of the Saturnalia. This Winter celebration was the second of three which took place in December (by the Julian Calendar), the first being the Consualia on December 15, the Saturnalia on the 17th, and then the Opalia on December 19th. By lumping them all together and giving the celebration a Christian gloss, it is claimed, Christianity commandeered a Pagan Holiday for their own use. And so what? The purpose of Christmas, again, is to celebrate the birth of the Savior, the Messiah. It is not to celebrate the Winter Solstice.

It is a nice gesture for certain retailers to allow the words "Merry Christmas" back into their establishments. The fact that some had banned those words is a sorry sign. Under the handy catch-all of "not wishing to offend non-Christians," these same establishments managed to offend Christians. It would seem that, as usual, offending Christians is unimportant. Offending some amorphous minority, however, is evil and must be stopped at all costs. Thus we ban the word "Christ" from the Christmas Holiday. At that point, then, we also see the same old arguments arise: Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus, Christmas is just a retailers holiday, Christmas is too commercial, blah, blah, blah.

Look, any person in the Western World who is offended by the greeting, "Merry Christmas," is in need of psychiatric care, not in need of humoring. If I know somebody is Jewish, and I remember when Hanukkah commences, I definitely wish them a "Happy Hanukkah!" I certainly don't wish them a "Merry Christmas." But what rational Jew would ever feel slighted, debased, or insulted by a person wishing them a "Merry Christmas"? None. It is the irrational person who finds offense where none exists. And the irrational person should never be catered to.

I celebrate Christmas because it is the commemoration of Christ's birth. For no other reason. If I wish you a "Merry Chrismas," and you say to me, "But I'm Jewish," have I insulted you? Of course not! And I will, more than likely, reply, "In that case, Happy Hanukkah!"

If a Jew wishes me a "Happy Hanukkah," - and that has happened twice in my life - I would never dream of being insulted, or taking offense, or even correcting them. I've been bestowed with a nice blessing! How could that be offensive? My reply would be, "Why thank you! And a Happy Hanukkah to you, too!"

The real offense lies in trying to remove Christianity and Judaism from public. Rewriting history texts to downplay, or eliminate altogether, the force of religion on history, is foolish beyond reckoning. In the self-same text books that eliminate Christianity from history, you will find damned little information on the bloody march of Islam. How can anybody learn real history if they know nothing of the strengths and weaknesses of religion in human history? Squeezing Christmas from the schools is not simply an insult to Christians, but a danger to Jews, as well. Because we are seeing a deification of Islam in our schools that is acceptable to the Left, yet ignores the reality of its dangers to civilization.

The Eastern World took a different path, and thus has less interest in Christmas other than for its public ritualization - Santa, Christmas Trees, the department store sales, etc. - rather than the personal beliefs of its celebrants. That's as it should be. I rather doubt that the Vietnamese celebrate Cinco de Mayo. But they celebrate Tet. We celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah, despite the fact that neither celebration is suggested in the Bible. It is in our traditions to do so. And our traditions are every bit as important to us as Ramadan is to Muslims. Just a reminder to those who oppose Christmas celebrations: Christians are in the majority, here. Why not try to accept us, with the same open-handed joy, that you do with Muslims?

Anyone who would rather opt out of Christmas or Hanukkah celebrations may do so. No offense taken. But please stop fighting so hard to destroy the Christmas celebration by calling it a Winter Holiday, and getting us ready for Eid.

For a Different Kind Of Christmas Poem, visit Anna at A Rose By Any Other Name, then check out her Cookies And Sweets! Boy, Howdy!

Then, take the time to read about Christmas Cacti at Born Again Redneck, where Patrick posts some beautiful images. Surf his site, if you haven't already. Good stuff to be discovered there!

Don't miss Angel's post titled No ChristmaS!.. ok? It isn't just in the PC USA that Christmas is under assault.

Addendum: Check out Gayle's post at My Republican Blog, Fight Back For CHRISTmas!

Cathrina commented on this post, and as I usually do with a new visitor, I checked her profile and saw she has a few blogs to her name. One of those blogs, Christmas Around The World, had an interesting post, part of which said,

"When my friend Laura and her husband returned from Europe at the beginning of summer, they returned with clothes and books. They rented an unfurnished apartment and took their stuff out of storage and unpacked more clothes and books. With very little money on hand and only one income, they realized they would be without a wardrobe for quite a while. Thankfully, their landlord was not an unobservant fellow and by the end of their first week, he came and offered to loan them his old wardrobe, which lay unused in storage until he could get around to refinishing and refurbishing them."

Follow this link and read the whole thing. I know you'll enjoy this.