Happy New Year! Or is that offensive?
We’re told that “Merry Christmas” is offensive because not everyone celebrates Christmas. So we’re stuck with generic salutations like “Happy Holidays.” But the mere fact that there are some who don’t celebrate a holiday make it offensive? To any normal person, the answer would be an obvious no.
But I was traveling yesterday and stopped in to grab a soda and the man behind the counter said, “Happy New Year” to me. And then I wondered to myself why in a world where many people like Jews and the Chinese have different calendars isn’t wishing someone a Happy New Year offensive?
Why? Because it has nothing to do with God. Stomping “Merry Christmas” out of the public domain has nothing to do with respect for other cultures it only has to do with ensuring any discussion of religion in public out of existence. You see, it’s not just anti-Merry Christmas, it’s anti-God.
December 28, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Nonserviam.
The Founding Fathers of American Government were Freemasons.
You are seeing the fruits of their labors.
*
December 28, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Very good point Matthew.
I am not sure it is every God, just the Christian God – or at least God as Christians worship Him.
There is never any objection to any aspect of Islam. The left and their media go out of the way to show respect and sensitivity.
A while back, Father Z noticed how we never hear the "holy city of Rome" or the "holy Vatican City" yet Muslim holy places are always referred to as such.
December 28, 2010 at 4:54 pm
WOW! I never thought of that before! This is such a great point! Thank you!
December 28, 2010 at 6:04 pm
I'm not a big "war on Christmas" guy. Most of it seems like a way for people to feel more persecuted than they are.
But I was a little discouraged when my old Catholic high school did the Happy Holidays thing with their sign instead of Merry Christmas…I do have limits, times where I think it's out of hand, and that was one of them.
December 28, 2010 at 11:22 pm
For all I care they can stop saying merry Christmas all together including Catholics. Christmas does not start till December 25th and ends on January 13 the octave day of the feast of the Epiphany. To say merry Christmas before December 25th is wrong because we are in the 4 weeks of Advent, a time of penitential expectation and joy. As Catholics we should be wishing people a Blessed Advent for the 4 weeks before Dec. 25 and from Dec. 25 to Jan. 13 a merry Christmas.
December 29, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Where I live there is a major Catholic hospital which this year paid for a billboard next to a heavily-traveled interstate. It shows the hospital's well-known logo and says to this effect, "Wishing You the Joy of this Holiday Season". Pathetic.