Opinion of incorporating the cross into Christmas celebrations?

[Joe Republic]

Very good.  Christmas is first and foremost about Christ, and it should be kept that way.

Please keep your religion out of our secular winter time holiday, thank you.

Is this thread not about Christmas?

Indeed it is.  A holiday for families and friends to come together and exchange gifts, as overseen by a jolly old fat guy.  You can keep all the boring stuff you were talking about, whatever it was, thank you.

[Hifly]

Very good.  Christmas is first and foremost about Christ, and it should be kept that way.

Please keep your religion out of our secular winter time holiday, thank you.

Is this thread not about Christmas?

Indeed it is.  A holiday for families and friends to come together and exchange gifts, as overseen by a jolly old fat guy.  You can keep all the boring stuff you were talking about, whatever it was, thank you.

This isn't about whether it's boring or not; Christmas is in all its intents a Christian liturgical feast. I celebrate the advent of snow, presents and mulled wine during European winter in a secular fashion, but to suggest that Christianity is not at the very heart of Christmas is absurd.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I've got no problem with those who choose a Christian lifestyle, but them shoving it down our throats is disgusting.

[Keystone Phil]

Uh, how is the bolded part incorrect?

That's celebrated on the Epiphany. It's its own holy day/holiday shortly after Christmas.

Wooh, am I not the only psycho traditional family that has La Befana visit for the Epiphany?!

Both of my grandmothers are directly from Italy but never carried on the tradition (at least not with the grandkids) since we already do the gift giving on Christmas in U-S-A! U-S-A!

[Keystone Phil]

Very good.  Christmas is first and foremost about Christ, and it should be kept that way.

Please keep your religion out of our secular winter time holiday, thank you.

Is this thread not about Christmas?

Indeed it is.  A holiday for families and friends to come together and exchange gifts, as overseen by a jolly old fat guy.  You can keep all the boring stuff you were talking about, whatever it was, thank you.

This isn't about whether it's boring or not; Christmas is in all its intents a Christian liturgical feast. I celebrate the advent of snow, presents and mulled wine during European winter in a secular fashion, but to suggest that Christianity is not at the very heart of Christmas is absurd.

Hilfy, this is a troll thread. I only commented here to state that the celebration of the Wise Men bringing gifts to Jesus was a separate event/holy day. Lief's purpose here was to be mildly offensive, perhaps to lure Our Dear Friend back to The Update since the thread's inspiration was a BushOK Facebook post. Don't waste your time taking the bait and getting offended.

[bedstuy]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

And, how would you incorporate the cross into Christmas?  Would you crucify a likeness of the Grinch who stole Christmas or Ebenezer Scrooge? 

[Keystone Phil]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

...not sure if adding to the trolling or genuinely that ignorant that this holiday has religious significance.

[Joe Republic]

Very good.  Christmas is first and foremost about Christ, and it should be kept that way.

Please keep your religion out of our secular winter time holiday, thank you.

Is this thread not about Christmas?

Indeed it is.  A holiday for families and friends to come together and exchange gifts, as overseen by a jolly old fat guy.  You can keep all the boring stuff you were talking about, whatever it was, thank you.

This isn't about whether it's boring or not; Christmas is in all its intents a Christian liturgical feast. I celebrate the advent of snow, presents and mulled wine during European winter in a secular fashion, but to suggest that Christianity is not at the very heart of Christmas is absurd.

Hilfy, this is a troll thread. I only commented here to state that the celebration of the Wise Men bringing gifts to Jesus was a separate event/holy day. Lief's purpose here was to be mildly offensive, perhaps to lure Our Dear Friend back to The Update since the thread's inspiration was a BushOK Facebook post. Don't waste your time taking the bait and getting offended.

Poor Hifly.  It must be so terrible for him to have a mildly offensive, controversial opinion thrown at him.

[afleitch]

Very good.  Christmas is first and foremost about Christ, and it should be kept that way.

Please keep your religion out of our secular winter time holiday, thank you.

Is this thread not about Christmas?

Indeed it is.  A holiday for families and friends to come together and exchange gifts, as overseen by a jolly old fat guy.  You can keep all the boring stuff you were talking about, whatever it was, thank you.

This isn't about whether it's boring or not; Christmas is in all its intents a Christian liturgical feast. I celebrate the advent of snow, presents and mulled wine during European winter in a secular fashion, but to suggest that Christianity is not at the very heart of Christmas is absurd.

Hilfy, this is a troll thread. I only commented here to state that the celebration of the Wise Men bringing gifts to Jesus was a separate event/holy day. Lief's purpose here was to be mildly offensive, perhaps to lure Our Dear Friend back to The Update since the thread's inspiration was a BushOK Facebook post. Don't waste your time taking the bait and getting offended.

Poor Hifly.  It must be so terrible for him to have a mildly offensive, controversial opinion thrown at him.

It might cause him an injury.

'Here lies Hifly. He went to Oxford'

[bedstuy]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

...not sure if adding to the trolling or genuinely that ignorant that this holiday has religious significance.

There's celebration and there's church.  Many people go to a church on Christmas.  I went once with some of my Christian relatives.  Unfortunately, it was pretty damn boring and I had to get out the book I was reading to pass the time during the talk the preacher or whatever gave. 

That's all fine though because people can skip those religious events if they don't like them.  But, if you're going to pray or bring up religion in a holiday party with your family.  It's awkward and out of place.

[Keystone Phil]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

...not sure if adding to the trolling or genuinely that ignorant that this holiday has religious significance.

There's celebration and there's church.  Many people go to a church on Christmas.  I went once with some of my Christian relatives.  Unfortunately, it was pretty damn boring and I had to get out the book I was reading to pass the time during the talk the preacher or whatever gave. 

That's all fine though because people can skip those religious events if they don't like them.  But, if you're going to pray or bring up religion in a holiday party with your family.  It's awkward and out of place.

Here's a Christmas greeting for you: you're a dumbass.

[SWE]

^harsh

[Associate Justice PiT]

     My opinion is favorable, but not nearly as much as it would be if all other aspects were excised. Spoken as an atheist, secular Christmas is a hideous abomination.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

Do you know why they call it a holiday? 

If there is a cross it should be discrete, nearly subliminal, as a hint of things to come.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Uh, how is the bolded part incorrect?

That's celebrated on the Epiphany. It's its own holy day/holiday shortly after Christmas.

Wooh, am I not the only psycho traditional family that has La Befana visit for the Epiphany?!

Nah, my Mom and I celebrate Día de los Reyes. I look forward to receiving candy and a gift card in my shoes on the 6th of January, as every Mexican lad should.

For what it's worth, I prefer religious Christmas to secular Christmas and I'm agnostic. Religious Christmas is optional, secular Christmas is obligatory.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

If there is a cross it should be discrete, nearly subliminal, as a hint of things to come.

Ooh, yes, this I like.

But yeah, in general I do think that the cross should be primarily emphasized in the Lent-Holy Week-Easter sequence, whereas the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany sequence should make use of other central symbols--the star, perhaps, although the relevance of that only really comes in towards the end, or the creche, although that can get real kitsch real easy. Perhaps there's not as immediately obvious a possibility as I went into this post thinking. Pentecost of course has the tongues of flame, and those are hardcore.

[bedstuy]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

Do you know why they call it a holiday?  

If there is a cross it should be discrete, nearly subliminal, as a hint of things to come.

Do you actually want to talk about religion with your family or have awkward praying in your house?  That seems like a perfect way to ruin a Christmas party.

I don't understand this.  What is the religious element of Christmas in terms of practice?  Singing Christmas songs?  No.  Overeating?  No.  Getting drunk?  No.  Giving gifts?  No.  I don't see where the religion is supposed to actually enter in.  

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

Do you know why they call it a holiday?  

If there is a cross it should be discrete, nearly subliminal, as a hint of things to come.

Do you actually want to talk about religion with your family or have awkward praying in your house?  That seems like a perfect way to ruin a Christmas party.

I don't understand this.  What is the religious element of Christmas in terms of practice?  Singing Christmas songs?  No.  Overeating?  No.  Getting drunk?  No.  Giving gifts?  No.  I don't see where the religion is supposed to actually enter in.  

Well, YOU certainly don't understand conservative America.  Corporate praying with family is basically party time for these religiouses!

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

Do you know why they call it a holiday?  

If there is a cross it should be discrete, nearly subliminal, as a hint of things to come.

Do you actually want to talk about religion with your family or have awkward praying in your house?  That seems like a perfect way to ruin a Christmas party.

I don't understand this.  What is the religious element of Christmas in terms of practice?  Singing Christmas songs?  No.  Overeating?  No.  Getting drunk?  No.  Giving gifts?  No.  I don't see where the religion is supposed to actually enter in.  

Christmas songs are not religious?

[Joe Republic]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

Do you know why they call it a holiday?

Exactly!  All holidays are inherently holy days, including Martin Luther King Day, Columbus Day, Labor Day, etc.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

Do you know why they call it a holiday?

Exactly!  All holidays are inherently holy days, including Martin Luther King Day, Columbus Day, Labor Day, etc.

Be careful if Our Dear Friend sees this thread. I'm not sure he understands sarcasm.

[Keystone Phil]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

Do you know why they call it a holiday?  

If there is a cross it should be discrete, nearly subliminal, as a hint of things to come.

Do you actually want to talk about religion with your family or have awkward praying in your house?  That seems like a perfect way to ruin a Christmas party.

Ignoring your painful ignorance for just a second...

This wasn't really about doing overtly religious acts like talking about the intricacies of religion or even praying. My original response to you was because you seemed to suggest there was no religious link to Christmas to begin with so we shouldn't go "mixing" it in because it's best to keep those "awkward" things away. Again, you might just be trolling but your comment seemedgenuinely moronic. 

You must be logged in to read this quote.

...maybe recognizing that the holiday has a religious origin? Spare me the "Winter Solistice celebration" nonsense. December 25th is observed in modern times (and by that I mean the last several hundred years, at least) because it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. If overtly religious actions don't enter your celebrations, that's nice for you but if you can't even acknowledge the religious basis of the day/season, you're generally hopeless.

[angus]

I find the common use of a crucifix - a tool of torture and execution - to be slightly disturbing in itself. :/

I suppose that the crucifix is probably most appropriate for Good Friday.  The cross is for Easter.  A star is for Christmas. 

The Christmas cards we receive from relatives feature christmas trees, curious george, snowmen, or Santa Claus.  Once in a while I get a religious-themed card in the mail from one of my parents siblings, all of whom are over 70.  Those rarely feature crosses.  They feature a star, or a young couple in a stable with a baby, or three Persians with gifts, or some combination of all those.

I prefer the Elvis-themed Christmas cards.  They are pretty rare these days, outside Las Vegas, but they were very common in my youth.  I have saved a number of them. 

[bedstuy]

In general, it's in bad taste to inject religion into holiday celebrations.  If you're with your family and friends, it's just awkward to bring up religion.  The point of holidays is to eat and drink and be merry, right?

Do you know why they call it a holiday?  

If there is a cross it should be discrete, nearly subliminal, as a hint of things to come.

Do you actually want to talk about religion with your family or have awkward praying in your house?  That seems like a perfect way to ruin a Christmas party.

Ignoring your painful ignorance for just a second...

This wasn't really about doing overtly religious acts like talking about the intricacies of religion or even praying. My original response to you was because you seemed to suggest there was no religious link to Christmas to begin with so we shouldn't go "mixing" it in because it's best to keep those "awkward" things away. Again, you might just be trolling but your comment seemedgenuinely moronic. 

You must be logged in to read this quote.

...maybe recognizing that the holiday has a religious origin? Spare me the "Winter Solistice celebration" nonsense. December 25th is observed in modern times (and by that I mean the last several hundred years, at least) because it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. If overtly religious actions don't enter your celebrations, that's nice for you but if you can't even acknowledge the religious basis of the day/season, you're generally hopeless.

Who would claim that Christmas isn't a Christian holiday?  Of course it is.  Christmas, as most people celebrate it, is part of the American culture, shaped by the fact that this is a Christian country.  But, the origin isn't the same thing as the practice.  The tradition of Christmas are for the most part secular and celebrating any holiday is always more about spending time with people you love more than any specific tradition. 

Again, I just think it's in bad taste to make a holiday party into a religious meeting and certainly decorating a cross or whatever is strange.

[DemPGH]

Yeah, I personally would like to emphasize the celebratory tradition over the mythological tradition. But that's probably why this is all best left to the individual. When I think of Christmas, I think of hearth, home, tearing open presents as a kid, etc. Now it's a time to watch football and drink a lot of wine and see people I don't routinely see. So if it has mythological importance to you, fine, but it does not to me. I think secularists would probably just like for that to be respected.

Christmas songs are not religious?

Santa Baby, Jingle Bell Rock, Winter Wonderland, Frosty the Snowman, Up on the Rooftop, et. al. hundreds and hundreds routinely played on the radio right now are not, no.