Xmas, taking the christ out of christmas? Options

[kidvicious2punk]

there are some people who think that writing the short form "xmas" in place of christmas is nothing short of secular and disrespectful.

there was a segment on the daily show with jon stewart in which some one complained that the saying "happy holidays" is also taking away from the religious values of christmas.

in response,jon said [it was close to this,not exact],
"well,yes the holiday season is considering christmas,but,new years is also a holiday.sure,you could say 'merry christmas and a happy new year',but some of us have things to do."

maybe the fact of the matter is that the meaning of christmas is becoming less and less clear.but i dont think its that big of a deal that people would like to save time in writing out the whole word and simply came up with "xmas".

thoguhts?

[Calantyr]

'Christmas' was a celebration long before Christ turned up on the scene. Infact the birth of Christ was changed to match the EXISTING celebration so that more people could be convinced to celebrate and convert to the new religion.

Check some of the early churches that still exist around the middle east. I.e. the Coptic church in Egypt. They celebrate the birth of Christ sometime in January I believe, and it pre-dates what the more wide-spread churches decided on later.

So celebrating the 'Christmas holidays' in a more secular way is fine by me. There has always been a winter festival in many cultures for as long back as history recalls. Why should we not pay homage to such a special time of year. People come together, cheer is spread, we are thankful for the gifts the year has brung, and we prepare for the coming one. There is nothing especially 'Christian' about it. You can worship him at this time as well, but that isn't the totality of the 'holiday'.

And yes I do appreciate the irony of secular types still calling it a 'holiday', when they refuse to accept that it is a 'holy day'.