Ok, this is borderline ridiculous and absurd. Huckabee is now being attacked for mentioning in one of his Iowa TV ads that we should concentrate on celebrating “the birth of Christ” during this season. Meredith Vieira, from the TODAY show, asked him this morning if this was an attempt on Huckabee’s part to push religion on other people. She also mentioned “the cross” that stands in the background of his ad (which is actually a bookshelf) and asked him if this was some kind of subliminal message.
Huckabee’s answer was, of course, a sensible and honest one. He said back to Vieira that she was not going to work this coming Tuesday, December 25th. That Government offices also close during Christmas Day. So what is the big deal for saying that on this day we celebrate “the birth of Christ”? Good for Huckabee.
I have to admit that after living in this country for several years, it still comes as a shock and as absurd this whole trend of avoiding “Merry Christmas” and just saying “Season Greetings” or “Happy Holidays,” because the majority of people, even non-believers, celebrate Christmas in the United States. Perhaps they didn’t know why and now they feel cheated? How can you celebrate a day when you don’t even know why you’re celebrating or you don’t agree with the cause? It is absolutely absurd and incoherent. It would be as if I would set up a big Thanksgiving dinner for friends and family, but get really angry when someone mentions why we celebrate Thanksgiving to begin with. If you don’t agree with the reason for Christmas, then boycott it. But, who’s going to do that?
I propose something. If we can’t talk about the reason for celebrating Christmas, then let’s just take Christmas off as a holiday altogether and work that day and let’s just stay with Thanksgiving. I’m sure a lot of people would not mind if they can get CHRISTmas back and if it says Merry Christmas everywhere rather than Happy Holidays.
It’s not about being sensitive towards non-believers or people from other religions. I have Jewish friends who had Christmas trees at home and received Christmas cards and they personally told me that they had already gotten used to it. My neighbors are practicing Jews and they have a big Christmas wreath in their porch, but also have a blue and silver bow on their door.
Come on, it’s not the Jews or the Muslims that would be offended by this. Let us take, for instance, England as an example. Many businesses are avoiding the word “Christmas” and using words such as “Winteval” instead to be sensitive to people from other religions. Many schools also stopped the nativity plays. But Hindus and Muslims are coming out and saying to the Brits to stop ” ‘being daft about Christmas’ and to celebrate the Christian holiday unreservedly.” Muslim Council of Britain spokesperson Shayk Ibrahim Mogra said:
“To suggest celebrating Christmas and having decorations offends Muslims is absurd. Why can’t we have more nativity scenes in Britain?”
He also proceeded to say that “Jesus is also our prophet” and that the Christian roots of England have to be respected by immigrants and that if they didn’t like it, they had to move back to where they came from.
Come on, this is not about offending people from other religions. This is about not wanting to be reminded that we are a people of faith and that the things that we hold dear the most come from that same faith that has shaped our thought and culture for centuries.
Sorry for the rant 🙂
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