So, the mother of a friend of mine posted on her Facebook status the other day, "We can't say Merry Christmas now we have to say Happy Holidays. We can't call it a Christmas tree, it's now called a Holiday tree? Because it might offend someone. If you don't like our "Customs" and it offends you so much then LEAVE I will help you pack. They are called customs and we have our traditions" and then an added bit asking to repost if you agree. I did not repost, cuz I generally don't repost stuff, but I did comment:
"I always call it Christmas stuff... Cuz it is Christmas to me! If others are offended, that's their problem."
Which in turn, led someone else to comment:
"o.O? Seriously? Religious holiday forced down someone's throat with a 'culture' label? Huzzah to happy holidays because it doesn't ignore how multicultural we are and allow us to check out what other people are celebrating without just assuming everyone is celebrating christ-mas.. Hope everyone has a wonderful Yule!"
Which frustrated the crap out of me!!! So I commented back (my frustrations are explained):
"I think it's great that different people celebrate different holidays, that's what multiculturalism what it is, and that's awesome! But don't lump everything into one single "holiday celebration." I want to celebrate Christmas, just as the Jewish want to celebrate Hanukkah, and Muslims celebrate the Islamic new year and the day of Ashura. I am not offended by these religious celebrations.
I think that just lumping everything into "happy holidays" actually takes away from multiculturalism because then we're all becoming the same. There's no multi- anymore, it's all just "happy holidays." But if I say "Merry Christmas!" to someone, and they tell me that they're Jewish, then I will say, "Happy Hanukkah!" no problem! If they tell me they don't believe in the salvation of Christ and they believe in Allah and follow the teachings of Mohamed, then I wish them shalom.
I really could get into a big religious debate about all this, about what gods everyone worships and the gods they celebrate in their holidays and whatnot, but I don't think this is really the place for it...
Canada is a country built upon Christian forefathers, an thus we are considered a Christian nation. As such, Christmas Day is recognised as a national holiday. If people from other religions don't actually celebrate Christmas, that's fine, they are still able to enjoy the day of rest if they choose.
For those who immigrate here from other countries, welcome to Canada, we here celebrate Christmas on December 25th. You don't have to, but we will wish you a Merry Christmas nonetheless. You can accept it or not, but we will wish you wellness. Feel free to celebrate your own holiday, I think that's fantastic!
[Previous commenter], I don't mean to make it seem like I'm ranting specifically at you, or even ranting at all, I just get frustrated when people try to take Christ out of the originally reason for celebrating Christmas because they want to be politically correct and non-offensive to anyone."
Does anyone else have any thoughts on this that they'd like to share? I'm totally up to discuss different opinions, even welcoming religious debate, because I do believe that this would be an appropriate place to do that! =)
I think that, respect is not a Christian idea. It's universal.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think, though posted with good intentions, that the person who originally posted wasn't being very respectful. If the purpose was to start a discussion, then having "crock of shit", isn't the route to go with it.
I also think, though, that if somebody want's to talk about how needing to be multicultural is the reason, and that it's important, then in there somewhere has to be the recognition as Christianity, and Christianity is part of culture.
I would agree that respect is universal. Hence my rant. It did frustrate me that the original poster went about it in a way that was disrespectful, but I don't think she was wanting a debate anyways.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that Christianity must be taken as part of multiculturalism. To exclude one religion for the sake of making others from other religions less offended, is false multiculturalism. Christianity is the main religion here in Canada, in my currently uneducated knowledge, though with so many immigrants coming to Canada, there are a big number of other religions coming in. Bad thing? Not in the least! As long as we don't lose Christianity to "political correctness."
I was talking with Alisha last night about this too, and I mentioned how it is said that Canada is a melting pot of culture, and I think that's great! Except what I'm seeing happen is it's getting to the extreme where all the cultures in the pot are all becoming blended into one thing, and that's not cool.
I feel like I'm just repeating myself over and over here lol...