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Originally Posted by abaya
Also consider that almost ALL of our "Christian" Christmas goods (and Easter, and all the rest) are MADE in China... our religious holidays do a good job of supporting their atheist economy, and no one seems to get very pissy about that.  |
Hahahahahahaha!! Good point abaya! This is the REAL conspiracy. The DaVinci Code had it wrong all along. I bet their excuse is that somehow all the stuff being made in China is a slow long term way of converting them.
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Originally Posted by abaya
Anyway, as for essendoubleop's comment about Christmas being American mainstream... actually, I've always felt it was much more European (especially German) than anything else, and that Americans haven't added much to it since we borrowed it from them (other than hyper-commercialization).
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Well that's just it. The hyper commercialization and iconography of Santa et al, has in effect, rendered Christmas to be a secular holiday. I would even argue that Thanksgiving is more religious than Christmas is. In this context, it stands to reason that a Christmas tree (or Holiday tree for you fanatics) is less of a religious icon than say a festive decor that brightens up the airport.
All in all, I understand what the rabbi is saying, but I definitely think he went about it the wrong way. Even he admits that he didn't want the Christmas trees to go away but rather, he wanted the menorah to be included next to the tree and get this, because it is a universal symbol of hope and triumph and not just a minor Jewish holiday symbol (since when? If so, why weren't we informed before of this wonderful inclusion?).
Where he went wrong was threatening to sue and forced the airport commission to take down the trees. Now there's a backlash and airport employees are saying that they will be bringing in their own trees to put on the counters. I thought the commission gave a very good explanation for their actions.
The interview is on cnn.com.