We are a Christian nation!

[Chris_Jacobsen]

America ceased to be a Christian nation in 1969. However, most people celebrate Christmas anyway.

Unless, you are hoping someone will have an un-merry Christmas, it is always appropriate to wish everyone a merry Christmas.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

America ceased to be a Christian nation in 1969.

When what happened?

As a side note–there were some assumptions made about my earlier post which neatly sidestepped my question and attempted to turn my question–why can’t Christians wish people “Merry Christmas” into an assumption that I was going to intimidate Jews or other non-Christians, or was “insensitive”.

Once again, please explain to me how it is offensive for me to wish a given individual “Merry Christmas”. We don’t wear signs (yet) stating our religious preferences, so if a kind gentleman offers me a seat on the bus, I’m going to thank him and say “Merry Christmas”. Perhaps that man happens to be Jewish; he can respond with anything from “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Hanukkah” to “I’m Jewish” or even “I wouldn’t have given you the seat if I’d known you were a Christian bigot”. . .or a whole lot of things in between.

The** point** I’d like to make is that we can’t, and shouldn’t, let our fears of the “worst case” scenario–being accused of bigotry–keep us from opening our mouths about our faith.

Catholicism is** not** something I “keep to myself” at home, or bring out for an hour on Sundays. I shouldn’t be coerced into hiding my belief for fear I’ll** offend** somebody.

The Constitution doesn’t say we have a right not to be offended. That is amply borne forth to me every time I’m on a public bus, or in a public building, and every other person is holding forth with “Sh- this”, “F-- that”, and especially “Chri—” or “G-dd–t”. Offensive? Yes, indeed. Free speech. Uh-huh. I can–and I have–carefully and respectfully asked people to refrain from such language in front of babies and children and old ladies, and a surprising number of them have equally respectfully done so.

If I say “Merry Christmas” and someone responds, “Well thanks but I don’t celebrate that”, what is so terrible about that? Has the world ended? Have I traumatized them forever? I’ve had friends wish me “Happy Hanukkah”, “Joyful Solstice”, and–haha Penny, I’ve wished some of my friends a blessed Ramadan, and I’ve responded with “and the same to you and a Merry Christmas from your Catholic friend and family”.

Sheesh. My statement of belief is not a dissing of somebody’s different belief. My acknowledgement of my holiday is not a refutation of somebody else’s holiday. We’re not in some competition, we’re not playing stupid games–or we shouldn’t be.

Don’t make things more complicated than they really are.

 

[chicago]

Penny Plain:

Well, if you’re going to be that way about it…

Merry Christmas to you, too, with peace (but not peace all the time because that would be boring) and enough good will so we can make it through the day but not so much that we can’t get charged up about giving it good and hard to somebody who has it coming every once in a while.

So yes, peace and good will, but with footnotes.

To paraphrase Wally Phillips…“May your life be filled with great joy and happiness; and just a bit of suffering and sadness… so that you may understand the difference.”

 

[Penny_Plain]

Tantum ergo:

Catholicism is** not** something I “keep to myself” at home, or bring out for an hour on Sundays. I shouldn’t be coerced into hiding my belief for fear I’ll** offend** somebody.

Now you’re being coerced into hiding your Catholicism? The horror!!!

You guys really need to lighten up. All I said was that it was discourteous (maybe mildly obnoxious? I’m not going to go back and re-read this thread to see) to get in somebody’s face by refering to a holiday they don’t celebrate. It is reasonable to conduct oneself in such a way as to avoid giving being discourteous to others. It is also reasonable to conduct oneself in a way that avoids unnecessary offence.

Not everyone is like you or wants to be like you.

It is much less offensive than giving a pogo stick to a person in a wheelchair., if that helps any.

 

[Penny_Plain]

chicago:

To paraphrase Wally Phillips…“May your life be filled with great joy and happiness; and just a bit of suffering and sadness… so that you may understand the difference.”

That’s a much better phrasing than mine. Well said.

Or paraphrased. Whatever. It still takes talent to recognize genius.

 

[Brad]

katherine2:

I guess we are all different. When with another person, I presume its not all about ME. Therefore, my greeting is not about ME – ‘merry Christmas’. Yes I am merry about Christmas. But I want to wish the other person happiness in their celebration rather than have my meriment the center of attention.

So I wish my Jewish friends a Happy Chanukkah, my secular friends a Happy New Year, most of my Christian friends a Merry Christmas and my Julian calendar friends a very early merry Christmas.

It’s called evangelization - you know, spreading the Gospel - that which Jesus told us to do. He didn’t say “Go out and tell everyone that whatever they believe is just fine even though it is not what I taught”. He said “repent, believe in the Gospel - the kingdom of God is at hand.”

 

[JMJ_Pinoy]

S.J.:

I heard Michael Medved (a Jew no less) talking on his radio show about how the secularists in society will do anything they can to convince the American people that we are not a Christian nation and that we must respect our non-Christian citizenry by not emphasizing Christmas. He demonstrated that this is a bunch of bunk. We are overwhelmingly a Christian nation and becoming more so. Do not let the media fool you - don’t be afraid to say “Merry Christmas.” Here is a nice column by Bill O’Reilly on the same issue:

nydailynews.com/front/story/261528p-223885c.html

Read my signature.

 

[katherine2]

Brad:

It’s called evangelization - you know, spreading the Gospel - that which Jesus told us to do. He didn’t say “Go out and tell everyone that whatever they believe is just fine even though it is not what I taught”. He said “repent, believe in the Gospel - the kingdom of God is at hand.”

If at the end of my life, St. Peter aks me what I did for the faith and my best response is I went around saying Merry christimas to everyone, I think I might be in trouble.

 

[lewri]

But that IS part of evangelizing isn’t it? Talking to a co-worker about moralless schools is evangelizing as well.

In Christ,
Lew

katherine2:

If at the end of my life, St. Peter aks me what I did for the faith and my best response is I went around saying Merry christimas to everyone, I think I might be in trouble.

 

[AmyS]

Faustina:

Perhaps, but Maryland was orginally a Catholic colony.

the South West was very Catholic also…

 

[PilgrimJWT]

Like I heard once, “If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

I will paraphrase the question, "If this nation were put on trial for being a Christian nation, would there be enough evidence to convict it???

 

[The_Hidden_Life]

Penny Plain:

Did you have a good Ramadan, TE?

If you were a Muslim and sincere I wouldn’t have a problem with saying “Thanks and you too.” And if I lived in Saudi Arabia I would certainly understand and appreciate that the days of Ramadan are special and holy to the vast majority of the people there. I wouldn’t go about saying, “You must take all these terrible Happy Eid signs down! Don’t you know it’s offensive to the one-half-percent population of Christians in this country?”

To wish someone a Merry, Happy, Joyous and Blessed Christmas is not forcing that person to celebrate that holiday. It is very like saying, “I love you.” I cannot force the object of my affection to return the feeling but I can hope that they do. But please don’t tell me I can’t say the words at all.