Comments on: A Christian Holiday for All Americans

By: Jack O

Jack O — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 11:04:37 +0000

Thanks Jack. I have been following your site for some time and always find something interesting and thought provoking here.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:32:31 +0000

An absurd straw man. Christmas is just not under attack from liberal activists. If anything its meaning is subverted by commercialism. If all nominal Christains suddenly began to live out their faith, our economy would collapse. No one would join the army. Your entire notion of Christianity depends upon a secular culture. This is arguably the worst reasoned article I have ever read in Am. Cons.

By: Paul K

Paul K — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:24:05 +0000

Been following your blog for a while… good stuff

By: Philip in IA

Philip in IA — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:17:49 +0000

Zac — Excellent retort.

Daniel — Excellent straw man. Say what you want, and let others do the same.

Jack Hunter — Buddhists generally don’t thump anything, let alone the Bible. But all ridiculous analogies aside, they are not called “Bible thumpers” because they aren’t naturally evangelistic. Mayans aren’t referenced as “backward” because much of the conversation about them these days revolves around their science, which was extremely advanced. Oh, and please name me a “normal” or “sane” country, or if you meant a different time in the U.S., please name that.

By: John Roberts

John Roberts — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:12:16 +0000

Put it down to cowardice in defending our culture from the relentless tirades of fuzzy-minded globalism. My own credo is to ignore those who consistenty want to redefine reality to further their own political or commercial ambitions. One post here blames corporations. I concur. Our corporations have become stateless elites, and they are selling us down the river. The slavery analogy is intentional; by outsourcing jobs to India and China they are destroying the American middle class. Read my blog on http://www.FreeingTibet.com about how to fight this — and fight for democracy at the same time.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:25:29 +0000

Zac in VA,
The problem isn’t so much people saying Happy Holidays. It lies in the idea that we are going to say that and stop saying Merry Christmas in order to not offend people. What we are facing in this country is a bias toward the minority and against the majority. This is the underlying problem. Christianity is and has been the dominant culture and root of Western Civilization. If you are not a Christian you have to accept it and live with it, but bias should not be shown to either side. Accept custom and the wisdom of our ancestors, and no one should be afraid of offending anybody.

By: me

me — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:39:41 +0000

umm liberals already do oppose the christian timeline – they have adapted the bce/ce to replace bc and AD, ironically, or perhaps not, these terms have there roots in jewish community, as does the hostility towards christmas. The reason thanksgiving has been ‘off the hook’ is because it does not mention Christ.

ps, it is not ‘anti semitc’ to point that the obvious, just look at israel where kosher certification is being denied to hotels that put up christmas trees- how does a christmas tree make a hotel ‘unkosher’ do you really need an answer to that.

By: Tom Piatak

Tom Piatak — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:26:33 +0000

An excellent piece, Jack. Thanks for writing it.

By: Zac in VA

Zac in VA — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:31:33 +0000

So, say Merry Christmas if you want.
There’s a lot of things that corporate America (the real leaders of the charge on this issue, in my mind) does that don’t make sense. Obviously, they feel that they can make more money or at least lose less money if they are less explicitly Christian.
The company Best Buy actually had Black Friday ads that included “Happy Eid” (Eid al-Adha, to be precise – the celebration of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son. Go, wikipedia!) in the text. That’s an interesting move – it’s a Muslim holiday that celebrates something that all Abrahamic religions would consider worthy of celebration.
I’m a Zen Buddhist, and I don’t celebrate Christmas. If someone wishes me a Merry Christmas, I thank them and say it in kind, but other than that, it doesn’t cross my lips; I see no reason to wish it upon anyone. I might encourage someone to have a Happy New Year, once Dec. 31st looms, but other than that, Hannukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and the rest just aren’t on my radar.
December 8th is Bodhi Day, the day the Buddha got up from his 40-day meditation beneath a bodhi tree (which was probably named after him, come to think of it). On or before that day, I might tell people here and there, “Did you know that Dec. 8th is..?”, but beyond that, I keep the day in my own way and tend not to advertise.
I consider this whole issue largely a business and retail matter, random hoilday admonishments on the street notwithstanding; people are more likely to hear some sort of holiday greetings when buying something, or at work, I think, than anywhere else. At least, in sheer tonnage, it’s retailers pushing employees to make this an issue in the first place – do you say something? What do you say?
And yet, Christians could really stand to be a bit more thick-skinned about this: this is like white people complaining about BET, saying “But there’s no White Entertainment Television!” Of course there is – it’s called American television.
Christianity is, indeed, the default cultural norm in our country. As such, Christians are in a privileged position. You might rebuff me on this, saying “but Christianity is under attack!” To which I say “Yeah, you don’t see the Jews thinking they can get bent out of shape about their holiday. And Kwanzaa? So many people refuse to even acknowledge its validity as a holiday that the Kwanzaa-celebrants won’t make a peep about it being acknowledged – the very ability of Christmas-celebrants to complain belies the (previously unquestioned) dominance of Christmas as a holiday pastime.

By: Gerry T. Neal

Gerry T. Neal — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:01:19 +0000

Very well said. It struck me as interesting, and perhaps a little ironic, as I was reading this excellent case for Christmas being an explicitly American holiday as well as an explicitly Christian one, that one can substitute “British”, “Canadian” or the adjectival form of the name of any other Western country where public recognition of Christmas as such is under attack in the name of left-wing inclusivity, for “American” and the argument works just as well.

Merry Christmas.