How Religious People Ruined the Holidays for the Rest of Us!
When I was growing up (and it wasn’t that long ago) the holidays between Halloween all the way through Easter were my favorite times of the year. At Christmas time, I remember getting into the car with my parents and grandparents and riding around to the local towns to look at the Christmas displays on the town commons to see the beautiful lights twinkling magically in icy night air.
It is so sad that my children will never have the same experiences that I did growing up because holiday decorations, and the general spirit of good will that comes with the seasons are quickly becoming a thing of the past.
We all know about the talking head morons who love to rant and rave about the “War on Christmas” and on Easter and now you take your life in your hands just wishing someone “Happy Holidays” ( FYI, people generally say ‘Happy Holliday’s’ because there is more than one holiday between Thanksgiving and the New Year, it isn’t a liberal plot to end the world!) But where did this all start falling apart?
Well in my opinion we have a real problem in this country with the Religious People*, who feel that they should have the power to force their beliefs on everyone. It all started with ruining Halloween.
Halloween is my favorite holiday, pretty much because you decorate like crazy and everyone from 2 to 200 can dress up in a costume and have a fun night. When I was little we had Halloween parties and parades. Our school’s windows were decorated with jack o’ lanterns and haunted houses. We sang spooky songs and told scary stories and had a pretty fantastic time. But that has been taken away from us to.
It has been taken away by the religious people who equate Halloween with Satan worship or worse, the practice of “Wicca” which, if you can pry you head out of you back side long enough to actually learn about it, is one of the most kind and peaceful belief systems out there-which I suppose is why the militant “Christians” don’t like it.
The point is, if you leave a holiday that has been celebrated in a secular fashion alone, and don’t force the religious aspects of it on to the public I have no idea why there would be a problem. I detest that my children’s school has a “Harvest” parade instead of a “Halloween” parade. If you are offended on the basis of religion by something that happens in an area of society that is supposed to be secular then you should send your kids to a religious school and leave the rest of us alone!
Maybe if there were a true separation of church and state and all religions were discussed and taught through a historical perspective there would be a place to meet in the middle.
Let kids have Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny at school and leave the Christmas Carols at church where they belong. Or, allow the Christmas Carols but teach the other religion’s holiday songs and religious traditions as well. Allow the nativity scene on the town common but also allow a menorah and any other symbol that is historically representative of how another culture celebrates holidays.
Here are other holidays that are celebrated in December.
- Hanukkah (Jewish)
- Saint Nicholas Day (Christian)
- Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexican)
- St. Lucia Day (Swedish)
- Boxing Day (Australian, Canadian, English, Irish)
- Kwanzaa (African American)
- Omisoka (Japanese)
- Eid’ul-Adha (Muslim)
Each culture is as passionate about their belief system as the next. School is a place to learn about different cultures and customs but schools have to be firm about not allowing any religion to dictate what is taught.
Public education is just that. It is not the place for any religion to be forced on you. It is not a place for forced prayer. If you want prayer in school then go to a religious school.
But what frosts my ass is when the religious people blame the liberals or the ACLU for running Christmas for everyone when the fact of the matter is that most of the time it is because the Religious People* are so busy pounding their beliefs on to other people and not allowing any space for anyone elses beliefs that conflicts arise. And unfortunately, its like I do with my kids-If you cant play nice with your toys I am going to take them way. So the only way to stop the fighting is to prohibit the display of the holidays in any form. That is how we end up not being allowed to display Christmas trees publicly.
Maybe if we learn about other cultures, and to respect them there is a chance for positive change in the world. Otherwise, we will lose more and more until all of the joy is wrung out of this time of year!
Religious People*-I mean people of all faiths who refuse to respect differences in beliefs and traditions and want to force theirs on others.
5 comments
You’ve left out Yule, Winter Solstice, and Dwali as some of the other December holiday traditions. I’m sure there are more but the main point is no one religion or culture has cornered the market on these celebrations. Whatever happened to “Peace on Earth & Goodwill to All?”
I don’t Consider Myself “Religious “
I put this on Yahoo answers here is some feedback:
no sure don’t
I thought it was very well written.
Merry Christmas!
None of these holidays do anything to spread the message of salvation.
Hanukkah (Jewish)
Saint Nicholas Day (Christian)
Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexican)
St. Lucia Day (Swedish)
Boxing Day (Australian, Canadian, English, Irish)
Kwanzaa (African American)
Omisoka (Japanese)
Eid’ul-Adha (Muslim)
Merry Merry CHRISTmas!
Commercialism ruined the holidays for me. It’s not all about peace on earth and goodwill toward all anymore, as it should be.
The point the article tries to make is that no ONE religion or culture has cornered the market on celebrations this time of the year. Why would other religions have to spread a message of salvation that they don’t believe in, Sprite????
Thanks for posting this. It was well written & expressed an opinion that a lot of us hold.
That’s a great article! So true!
I wish you a Happy Hanukkah, Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Lucia Day, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa,Omisoka
a Merry Christmas and a very Blessed Eid
I have taught in a public school for 26 years. We do not mention the word “Christmas” if at all possible. I remember a time when I could tell my children about how ALL people in MANY countries celebrated Christmas. We talked abput Hanukkah, Kwanza, etc.
I apologize if it has been offensive to you for me to try to educate my students about how other cultures celebrate Christmas.
NO ONE sings any religious songs at school. No one prays unless they do so individually and silently.
No one is forced to do anything.
We do have trees at school. I apologize if it is offensive for you to see a tree. I also have a tree in my home. It has lights on it, which I turn on at night. I apologize if that offends anyone, but what I do in my own house is my busines.
To view these answers in Yahoo Answers visit:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmXWN_up4UfGNa8iAod_zdDsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071201080645AA9rUqB
I disagree, sir!
For one, we wouldn’t have many of the major holidays without religion. They are religious holidays, whether you look at their origin or their current standings (such as Christmas stemming from Pagan (a religion) holidays, but now being a Christian (still, a religion) holiday.)
It’s not that religion itself is unnecessarily altering our holidays, it’s, as was mentioned, liberals who carry the concept of ‘political correctness’ too far.
Santa cannot say “ho, ho, ho” because of the chance that the word offends a woman (who is obviously a ho).
Halloween is changed because of the chance that it may offend a Christian.
Christmas Carols cannot be sung in school because of the chance that it may offend an atheist.
It’s not as much religious people as it is this idiotic guise of “political correctness”: Everyone should, no doubt, be happy about everything regardless of how unreasonable their claims are.
The reason, you see, we’ll not again experience Christmas as it used to be (going out and seeing wonderful decorations, hearing songs, etc.) is not because of religion, or religious people. It’s because of liberal-advocated ideas, such as, “Well, being so strong in Christmas spirit imposes religion on athiests and people of other religions.” It is, indeed, a liberal thing, and not a religious one.
I would personally like to see where the line could be drawn on this, as the word “Holiday” itself is an abbreviated version of “Holy Day”. So when you tell someone to “Have a great holiday!”, you are in fact telling them to have a great “Holy Day”. Kind of funny and ironic.
Come to think of it, “Good-Bye” is also an abbreviation, or a contraction of sorts: It’s short for “God be with You”- so I guess we can’t say “good-bye” in any government affiliated or funded establishment. That was first said publicly at the very first Harvard commencement to a shocked and appalled audience. As time passes, we forget all about these little things that made everything what it is today.
I believe that people should be able to decorate their homes to whatever level they choose. I believe that religion and prayer should be kept out of school. I believe the kids should be allowed a moment of silence at the end of the “Pledge of Allegiance” for them to pray for a second, say hi to God, daydream, or stare out the window. With this in mind, I think that Christmas should stay out of schools because we have enough problems with what’s already going on inside of them.
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