BlueEyes

This article gave me one more reason to be thankful that I no longer call myself a Christian.

http://www.kmbc.com/money/14661906/detail.html

and the organization's website:

http://www.lc.org/

MSD

Despite the growing persecution complex among the religious majority, in no way do these people represent any sort of majority. That will be clear when all of these stores are still packed every day up to Christmas and no substantial amount of money is lost.

People who generalize and act like religions and collections of religious individuals are single-minded armies or a hive mind of semi-individuals don't make me proud to be an atheist.

Strange Famous

On corporations which do ban the use of the term "Christmas" though... Ive always found it very silly.

I've never known a Sikh, Mulsim, or Jew (or an agnostic or atheist) who is offended by it.

People have festivals of their own religions, and are absolutely free to celebrate them, why should the Christian one's be censored because Christianity is seen as a majority? (although in the UK, there are probably more people who call themselves Christian in general terms than anyone else - but I think there are more practising Muslims than practising Christians)

If a group of people want to boycott a store because they think their actions are tasteless or offend their beliefs, I have no problem with that; anymore than I dont have a problem with Muslims boycotting Danish products because some Danish guy insulted The Prophet (peace be upon him)

I think thats a bit silly as well, but if it is what they want to do, they should be completely free to do it.

If this Christian group was going to firebomb these stores - then sure, we'd have a problem then.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Sion

Aren't these people aware that not everyone recognizes Christianity as the "one true" religion?

__________________
He's the best, of course, of all the worst.
Some wrong been done, he done it first. -fz

I jus' want ta thank you...falettinme...be mice elf...agin...

Strange Famous

I dont think that this particular instance carries that implication.

They are saying that they will not support stores which refuse to even acknowledge the most important festival of their religion.

That isnt exactly the same as saying everyone must worship their God.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

QuasiMondo

I find it funny that the Moral Majority laments any and all attempts to 'remove' Christmas from the holiday season, while failing to realize that Christmas, for the most part, has lost any sort of meaning whatsoever.

Christmas has long since transformed from a holiday of Christianity to a holiday of capitalism. Not that I think this is a bad thing, though. After all, Christmas has become capitalism's greatest gift upon itself.

I just wish the MM would realize that Christmas is no longer a holiday that's exclusive to themselves.

__________________
Cameron originally envisioned the Terminator as a small, unremarkable man, giving it the ability to blend in more easily. As a result, his first choice for the part was Lance Henriksen. O. J. Simpson was on the shortlist but Cameron did not think that such a nice guy could be a ruthless killer.

-From the Collector's Edition DVD of The Terminator

blahblah454

Don't mark that masses by a few individuals.

Ustwo

I don't really care but the self loathing and fear some people have for saying 'Merry Christmas' is pretty insane right now.

I'm an atheist who enjoys Christmas, and I have no problem saying Merry Christmas. Stores are doing this in order to 'not offend' and I assume they think it would cost them money, well this could be a reality check for them. I don't think it really matters.

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

casual user

although i do think it's stupid to censor the word "christmas" or to limit its use, these groups go way too crazy over it.

by "these groups" i mean fringe miniorities that give the broader group they are included in a bad name

ngdawg

Eh, it's the least of the country's problems.
I'm surprised, though, that Kohl's didn't make the "nice" list-they play regular "Christmas" songs ad nauseum.
And Staples because they sell Channukah stuff? Don't most stores?
Utter silliness....

World's King

I'm Catholic and I'm offended that stores don't sell more stuff for Hanukkah.


I was in Target the other day. I was walking by the gift card section. It was filled top to bottom with Christmas card. And on the very end there was a tiny Hanukkah section. Makes me angry.

__________________
heavy is the head that wears the crown

inBOIL

Imagine the amount of good that could be done if these "don't censor Christmas" people would divert their attention to alleviating a real problem, like poverty. It's been a while since I've been to church, but I'm willing to go out on a limb here and say that's what Jesus would do.

__________________
And you believe Bush and the liberals and divorced parents and gays and blacks and the Christian right and fossil fuels and Xbox are all to blame, meanwhile you yourselves create an ad where your kid hits you in the head with a baseball and you don't understand the message that the problem is you.

Charlatan

I am an atheist who still celebrates Christmas. You see, christians have been so successful in spreading the Christmas meme around the world that it has been largely adopted by just about everyone. As such, it's become a secular celebration for many.

I don't believe in (the mystical side of), let alone celebrate the birth of Christ. For me Christmas is simply a time to get together with family and friends.

Those who cry out about a war on Christmas need to take stock of their own home before pointing fingers at others.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

Randle2I

Are you joking or being serious?

Why would a company make an equal number of products for two separate groups when one group vastly outnumbers the other...therefore making them more money than the minority group ever could?

uncle phil

yakov smirnoff had it right - "America: What a country..."

__________________
"We were wrong, terribly wrong. (We) should not have tried to fight a guerrilla war with conventional military tactics against a foe willing to absorb enormous casualties...in a country lacking the fundamental political stability necessary to conduct effective military and pacification operations. It could not be done and it was not done."
- Robert S. McNamara
-----------------------------------------
"We will take our napalm and flame throwers out of the land that scarcely knows the use of matches...
We will leave you your small joys and smaller troubles."
- Eugene McCarthy in "Vietnam Message"
-----------------------------------------
never wrestle with a pig.
you both get dirty;
the pig likes it.

World's King

I'm completely serious.



You do know that in some parts of the world that Jews aren't the minority?

__________________
heavy is the head that wears the crown

Randle2I

If you can show me where it says that Jews in the United States are in the majority then I'll retract my statement. However, as I believe we're discussing the US of A then my original question stands. Why would a company devote resources they're not going to get back just to please a minority group?

*edit* While I can understand that you where mad about it why not try to change the situation instead of getting upset about it. They're only doing what's in their best interests, just as you would do given the same problem.

World's King

Do you realize that what your saying is very hateful towards the Jewish religion?


According to you stores shouldn't bother selling anything for Hanukkah because "there is no way of making money off Jews."

__________________
heavy is the head that wears the crown

duncan614

It must be. they have their own religion

dlish

WK..while i can understand what your saying, i do think your wrong.

at the end ofthe day its about business and making money. if your not goingto move your stock fast enough your going to lose money. so it makes business sense to make enough cards for hannakah as is necesary.

what is necesary u ask? thats up to the company to decide and see what profits and gains they want to make. but merely spending on things that wont get sold forthe sake of appeasing any particular group is just wrong business sense.

as a muslim id love to see Eid celebrated in australia.. but i wont get upset cos its not. its all about business!

then some greek guy came up with halal mcdonalds in sydney. he didnt do it cos he agreed with the halal concept..nor cos he was muslim, but cos it made good business sense and he could make good money to a niche market of muslims who only eat halal meat.

made great business sense!

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

tecoyah

Lets just move Christmas to April.....more likely date for the Christs' birthday anyway. Then we can come up with a really cool name for this upcoming celebration.


Any Ideas?

I want to name it "Back in retail Black"

__________________
Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

Baraka_Guru

Oh boo hoo! There are Christians who are worried that Christmas is under attack! Well, see if I care. They used Christmas to steal the celebrations of Winter Solstice and Sol Invictus from the pagans, and they even stole their "Christmas" tree, among other things. I won't be shedding a tear over this. It's about time the Christians lost their stranglehold on this time of year.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Randle2I

You just took a running start to jump to that conclusion. I'm saying that companies should make what sells and in a number that nets them the most profit. It's not hate, it's econ 101. Not all products will do well in all markets, therefore a company must tailor their production in a way that makes sense. Making just as many Hanukkah cards as Christmas cards (or Gift Cards) doesn't make sense. Not as many people are going to buy them, so they're not going to spend $100,000 making all these cards and only make $10,000 selling them. If you wish to change the status quo then start your own company making things for the more niche holidays, prove the larger companies wrong and show that one can make a profit. Then & only then will the selection of Hanukkah cards increase (assuming Christianity doesn't take some sort of meteoric dive in popularity somehow). That's all I'm going to say on this subject as anything else will just be a merry-go-round argument.

Ustwo

You got something better?

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

river_ratiii

Not for Christians.

People are free to celebrate whatever they eay wish. But Chritmas is an important celebration for Christians and regardless of how anyone else feels about it, why deny the importance it has for Christians?

And what makes you think these people DON'T take a hand in alleviating poverty?

Most Churches that I have been involved with have this as one of their primary activities.

Baraka_Guru

There is nothing "better" than Christmas; there are only things that are different.

Boycott stores who won't say "Merry Christmas"? Seriously.... That is their prerogative. I make my own value-based decisions. Christians are allow to do the same. But should they think Christmas is under attack? I hope not.

* * * * *

If we don't want Christianity in the schools, why not keep it out of stores? Why not open it up? I don't mind if they say "Merry Christmas" or not, but I get concerned when people get upset when someone decides they'd rather generalize to the public by saying "Happy Holidays." What's wrong with being inclusive?

This seems to me a paranoia from the Christian perspective. They look at the changing times as a form of social decay. Our societies are not as "pure" as they were in the past. Get over it.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

willynilly

Hey WK,

I just moved to Broomfield, CO, and there are proportionately fewer Jewish people in Denver than back in Washington, DC.

There are many more scooters and scooter shops in Denver than in DC. Scooter people must be discriminated against! Besides, who wants a fucking card unless it has money or a gift card in it?

ring

I like Tecoyah's idea in post #21

I'm working on an Idea.

Sion

__________________
He's the best, of course, of all the worst.
Some wrong been done, he done it first. -fz

I jus' want ta thank you...falettinme...be mice elf...agin...

river_ratiii

LOL...I'm in on this - I'm voting we call it Christmas...who's with me?

ring

My cousin was upset when she saw my box of decorations marked X-mas.

Ourcrazymodern?

We swing to the left.
Then we swing to the right-ish.
Swinging can be fun.

No nauseation.
Mass creation, we will do.
Until we do not.

__________________
BE JUST AND FEAR NOT

Sion

The word "Christmas" is a contraction of two words "Christ's mass" and is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038. In early Greek versions of the New Testament, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ (Χριστός). Since the mid-16th century Χ, or the similar Roman letter X, was used as an abbreviation for Christ. Thus, Xmas is an abbreviation for Christmas.

__________________
He's the best, of course, of all the worst.
Some wrong been done, he done it first. -fz

I jus' want ta thank you...falettinme...be mice elf...agin...

telekinetic

One of my friends named Christi has the online nickname Xi due to exactly this ^^

__________________
twisted no more

Infinite_Loser

This is what I meant by "Ironically humorous".

Anywho...

Why? Because they advocate not shopping at stores which don't call Christmas, Christmas? Lousy reason if there ever were one.

__________________
I believe in equality; Everyone is equally inferior to me.

Sion

I think that BlueEyes' comment was meant to convey that he (she?) doesn't want to be associated with the kind of narrow-mindedness.


On a side note, I've met many thousands of "Christians" in my 41 years on this planet. Maybe a couple dozen of them are/were truly worthy of the label.

__________________
He's the best, of course, of all the worst.
Some wrong been done, he done it first. -fz

I jus' want ta thank you...falettinme...be mice elf...agin...

Baraka_Guru

I know. I liked it, too. Silly Christians.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Psycho Dad

Festivus comes to mind.

__________________
Don't always trust the opinions of experts.

river_ratiii

What criteria do you use when determining one's worthiness to call themselves Christian?

...and to think that you would have enough depth of knowlege of "many thousand" people with whom you have come in contact to make such a judgement is hard to believe.

dlish

never thought of Xi as christi.. moreso ive redy it as Exi.. as in sexi

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy