What's wrong with "Merry Christmas"?

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:
>
> I am not against a variety and range of seasons greetings,
> but I am put off by the politically correct idea that 
> Christmas must be secularized. That 'Christ' must be stripped
> from Christmas to avoid offending anyone. Typically, the 
> people who the politically correct are afraid of offending
> are not offended at all, so it is to no real purpose. It
> is simply the politically correct placating their own
> conscience. 

My friend gets sincerely offended. When busy cashiers politely or
cheerfully wish her a "Merry Christmas", she instructs them about she
does not celebrate the birthday of Christ because she is not a
Christian, she is a Jew. If the poor cashier then tries "Happy
Hannukkah", she instructs her/him about Hannukkah has already ended
because it was from (this date on secular calendar) to (this date on
secular calendar). She can go on about it. I don't tell her that I
think lecturing people is rude.

I probably would feel less sorry for the recipients of her lecture if
I also felt offended by them. I do not celebrate the birth of Christ
because I am not a Christian and I am not the kind of Wiccan who
worships Christ as a Pagan god (I know some who do) but I do celebrate
Christmas as a secular holiday and wish people "Merry Christmas". 

It's astonishing to me that some Christians feel gratified rather than
offended that people are stealing their holiday as an excuse to put up
decorated trees and colored lights and overeat and give presents and
view creches as just a seasonal decoration. 

I've stolen it so much that I dare silently get a little annoyed at
the slogan "Jesus is the reason for the season" because whatever
god(s) one believes in (such as Jesus, for the people who use that
slogan) is the reason for *all* seasons, not just winter, but
Christmas is not a season. They should say 'Jesus is the reason for
the celebration'. I wouldn't tell them, either, that lecturing people
is rude. Telling people that they're being rude is rude.

Merry Christmas, listies who like that greeting. Happy Isaac Newton's
birthday to those (such as my friend) who prefer gravity and calculus.
I wish you all a healthy and prosperous New Year.