Bugger all religious intolerance speeches.

[SpokenSoftly]

The city council in my city has decided to call the gigantic Christmas tree that's put up every year in the local shopping mall a 'community tree.' They do this and release all sorts of alternative-holiday ornaments so they won't 'offend' alternate religions other than Christianity. I'm nondenominational, so I don't have an overriding sense of values, just a belief in God and the sanctity of life, and this really pisses me off. They're trying not to offend other religions and basically flipping Christians the bird. Even the local family businesses have been asked to call their Christmas cards 'community cards.' The City Council chair gave some long bullshit speech about why this was necessary, but frankly I'm going to have my store keep calling our merchandise 'Christmas' instead of 'community' products. I'm certainly not advertising a star-of-Bethlehem-engraved plate set as being a Hannukah or Rosh Hashana (forgive my atrocious spelling of both of those holiday names, please) because it was intended for Christmas.

So if someone wants to say they're 'offended' by my so-called Religious Bias, they can go with a for all I care. The fact that they're pointing it out is religiously intolerant by definition.

Thoughts?  

[Deppfan]

I'm an athiest, but I still celebrate "Christmas." I call things Christmas gifts, and Christmas trees, and Christmas cards. It would be one thing to have decorations for the other holidays this time of year, in conjunction with the Christmas stuff, but to re-name anything having to do with Christmas is just stupid.

ninja Christmas Christmas Christmas!  

[Mad Haru]

I'm an agnostic, but am leaning towards the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
I celebrate Christmas.
Also, Political Correctness can get out of hand.  

[Deppfan]

Harujiro no Yorozuya

I'm an agnostic, but am leaning towards the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
I celebrate Christmas.
Also, Political Correctness can get out of hand.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is just awesome!  

[Yuuki Aoyagi]

“At the time of the winter solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is just myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”–sign posted by atheists at the Illinois state capitol Christmas display.


Poem: Slave to my God

"Then bring on the whips, and call me a slave.
I'm a single minded fool, and I'm not about to cave.
My God,
My Angles,
My Demons,
My heaven,
and Hell,
This is my reason,
and be sure it'll prevail.
Let my heart be hardened,
and my mind be enslaved,
'cause there's nothing more natural than god,
and I'll believe it to my grave."

By: Chelsea Anderson.

Merry Christmas!  

[metranisome]

I’m not Christian myself, yet I find little to no offence in there being a community Christmas tree. My personal opinion on the subject is that if a store owner is Christian it would only make sense for them to send out Christmas cards and sell Christmas themed merchandise, just as if they were any other religion and selling things appropriate to themselves. (Example; Jewish owned stores selling Hanukah gifts).

One thing I must note though is that for the community tree it seems like it would be a proper idea to put diversified ornaments and whatnot because that simply shows acceptance for others beliefs. As for calling it a community tree instead of a Christmas tree; that would depend on the community at hand, especially if they have a high Christian population compared to other religions. Keep in mind though, it’s only a name, the tree itself is still there.  

[Pullo]

Removing his sunglasses, Pullo began to speak.

"I'm a Christian, and, every Christmas, I feel like an a*****e because companies don't give a ******** about anything other than Christmas. It really pisses me off. But I don't think that you should call Christmas cards 'community cards,' because they're not 'community cards.' What the hell kind of name is that, anyway? Just call Christmas cards Christmas cards and Hanukah cards Hanukah cards, and everyone will be happy."

He then turned and walked away, hoping he looked really damn cool.

 

[DvnT]

I'm a Christian, and I won't budge on that [my siggy says so, lol] and I also have a problem with Christmas being pushed aside in a country that was created for people to be able celebrate it -and other holidays- without being persecuted. I understand the city not wanting to call it a Christmas Tree ["Seperation of Church and State"] and calling it a Community Tree instead. What I think would be a better idea would be to let people in the Community put up the types of ornaments they want up. Say, for instance, that in this neighborhood they put up a tree and put up the Star of David on the tree, but there were no Jewish people there. Why put it up? All it is doing is taking up space. Nobody else really sees a point in having it there other then to look nice. It's like the city celebrating Easter in a Jewish neighborhood. There is no point!

But making stores change the names of things? I don't think they can do that. If the government [yes, the City Council counts as government to me] is reaching into the marketing system and controlling what you do... Well that looks like the beginnings of a Communistic Market to me.

 

[SchizoSpazz]

when you start walking on eggshells for everybody and trying to please everybody, nobody wins. that's just the way it's always been  

[Arties]

i would have to agree what foamy has to say in this topic  

[King Robert Silvermyst]

What the core problem is, is that there are always going to be intolerant bastards from just about every religion. People with the closed-minded mentality of "I'm right, everyone else is wrong' when it comes to religion. If there is such a thing as one True religion, then why hasn't the Divine instructed each founder in the same way? Why is there such diversity? My answer is that all of the religions of the world are A path of spirituality, many different ideas, people and beliefs, yet the goal is the same: unity with the Divine and enlightenment. We as humans try to define God or the Goddess by our own systems. Some say Jesus was the Son of God. Others say he was a prophet. Some believe that nature is in and of itself a living entity or group of entities that exist with us. Some believe the Creator to be far removed from the events of this world, while others believe the Divine watch closely over us all.


Only when we can respect the religious beliefs of others and put aside this whole bigotry of segregation of the religious views of others can real peace begin to take form.

I am Kemetic Orthodox, my patron (Mother) Goddess is Sekhmet. I still celebrate Christmas with my family because I respect their religious holidays and their religious views, and they in turn respect mine, even though they do not agree with them.