NetWatcher's Guide to Everything

I give fair warning....

I'm about to go off.


Nothing gives me the warm fuzzies in this wonderful holiday season more than hearing a bunch of religious people arguing about what to call this wonderful holiday season. Yes, that's right, just pull up a chair to the yule log, and enjoy the fellowship among your fellow man as they take what is, across cultures and religions, a festive time of peace on earth and turn it into a devicive mechanism for providing the age-old argument that "my religion is better than yours".

It's times like this that I truly wonder if the spirit most often refered to by the Christian arch-type of "devil" isn't roaming around trying to stir up something akin to another round of The Crusades. (Looking around at world events, I begin to see the Crusade thing being less funny "ha ha" and more funny "stab stab")

So what's all the fuss about? Apparently some ultra-sensitive Christians are getting twelve shades of upset that people (businesses usually) are wishing them Happy Holidays instead of a Merry Christmas, claiming that it's offensive to them and disrespectful to the holiday.

For the moment, I'll forgo the argument about how offensive saying Merry Christmas is to a Jewish person, or a Pagan (or a dozen other religions for that matter).

I'll focus instead on two things I've always had issues with. The first being political correctness. Most of the time, I really think political correctness is a vehical by which stupidity spreads at the speed of speech. However, usually with political correctness, it's a special interest group of few people that's trying to change the thought pattern of the many people. Call me a democratic utopian, but I have the philosophy that majority should rule in its purest form. With the Merry Christmas debacle- I think I'll call it Christmasgate (Just cause every really big scandalous issue sounds better with 'gate' attached at the end of it)- a different sort of reasoning takes place.

The screwed up philosophy goes something like this: Christians are majority. However, there are other religions to consider. These should also be taken into consideration because 1) There is a separation of church and state for a reason and 2) this country was partly founded due to religious oppression in the pilgrim's own countries. While my "majority rule" philosophy tries to win out, the fact that this country partly exists due to the desire for religious tolerance overrides those feelings.

Simply for this reason, I'd be more willing to say "Happy Holidays" to a stranger on the street, unless it was abundantly clear such a person was Christian, then I'd wish a Merry Christmas to him. Likewise, I'd say "Happy Hanukkah" to someone who was clearly Jewish, and I'd say "Blessed Solstace" to anyone who was a believer of several of the Pagan religions.

The second issue comes with the borg-like nature of Christianity. Not that I mind a religion trying to convert people. Viruses duplicate and spread, as do mind-viruses such as religions, but Christianity has had a history of taking the meme to the ultimate level. We're talking about the attitude at one point in history of "if you don't believe my religion and you don't convert, I'll kill you". I just have a fundamental issue with that type of reasoning in a religion that prides itself on forgiveness and acceptance.

The problem is, with Christmasgate, that mindset is rearing it's ugly little head again. It's almost like the whole of Christianity is saying "This is our holiday, and you'd better not mess with it!". I know that's taking it to the extreme, but this is my blog and I can make leaps of allusion if I want to so nanny-nanny-boo-boo. The problem with the "our holiday" thing is that anyone that believes that is so off-base it's not funny.

Festivals of life were common for centuries before Christ ever came into the picture. The festivals usually centered on or around what we now call the 21st or 22nd of December. This time of year is the winter solstace and is the point regarged by many Pagan religions as the time when the year renews itself. The idea being that (in the Northern Hemesphere) this day is the shortest of the year, the sun rises to it's most southern point and generally there's a sense of "the worst has passed". The fact of the matter with Christmas is that in the early days, Christians were persecuted by these Pagan believers. So, in an attempt to blend in, the early Christians designed their holidays around the Pagan's. In this fashion, they could more easily observe their holidays without standing out. Later, during the reign of the Roman Catholic Church, holidays were organized around Pagan celebrations in an attempt to more easily convert the Pagans to Christianity. There's many artifacts of both of these behaviors still around today, most notably in Christian hymnals. Many of the "old favorites" are in fact re-branded Pagan songs. Even the haunting Christmas song "O Come O Come Emanuel" was originally a Druidic song sung during the winter solstice festivals to summon the comming spring. (I find it interesting that both versions of the song attempt to invoke or summon.)

And so, I ask our Christian friends to remember that the Holiday season is not just a time of celebration for them. It isn't a time of year that's trying to be "taken" away from them (even though they've tried to take it from other religions). It's simply a time of year for people - of all religions - to come together in a time of fellowship and peace. Call it what you will, the sentiment is universal.

And to all, Happy Holidays!