Advent calendars

[susanmcgee48176]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> 
wrote:
>
> Susan wrote: 
> > Carol, would you post the source for the statement that 94% of 
> Americans celebrate Christmas?
> > 
> > And, I think we can always share feelings of love, peace, and joy 
by 
> > saying just that -- not relegated to Christmas, or Christian 
holiday 
> > greetings..
> > 
> > Susan
> >
> Carol:
> 
> Oops. I misremembered. It's actually 96%. The original site on 
which I
> found the statistic was not exactly objective: It was selling "It's
> okay to wish me a Merry Christmas" buttons. (I wouldn't mind buying
> one if they're still available next year.) The URL for that site is
> http://www.wmamc.com/charterchurches/index.html 
> 
> Meanwhile, a Google search for "percent of Americans celebrate
> Christmas" (in quotes for exact phrase) gave me the following 
results:
> 
> http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36071 
> 96%
> 
> 
http://media.www.chicagoflame.com/media/storage/paper519/news/2007/12/
10/Opinions/Where.Have.The.Jolly.Ho.Ho.Hos.Gone-3140972.shtml
> 96%
> 
> http://www.bpnews.net/bpcolumn.asp?ID=2082 95%
> 
> http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36071
> 96%
> 
> http://www.saychristmas.org/rights/default.aspx?cid=3549 95%
> 
> http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000003323.cfm 95%
> 
> There are many others, all of which seem to be citing the same 2005
> poll by Fox News/Opinion Dynamics. Here's a quote from the original
> article, which can be found at
> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,177355,00.htm :
> 
> "Virtually all Americans — 95 percent — say they celebrate 
Christmas,
> 4 percent celebrate Hanukkah and 3 percent Kwanzaa.
> 
> "A 57 percent majority considers Christmas a religious holiday, 14
> percent see it as a cultural holiday and 27 percent see it as both.
> Americans consider a Christmas tree a cultural symbol (69 percent)
> rather than a religious one (14 percent)."
> 
> And here's a link to the poll itself:
> 
> http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/poll_religion.pdf
> 
> Carol, who thinks that Christmas is both a secular and a religious
> holicay and does believe that there's a war on Christmas, sad to say
>


Carol, sorry, but Fox news is not exactly an unbiased source....

Who is waging a war on Christmas and why? Is it people like myself 
who although I celebrate Christmas do not believe it's courteous to 
wish someone a merry christmas if I don't know if they're celebrating 
it?

And even IF 96% of Americans DO celebrate Christmas, does that mean 
it's okay to wish everyone a merry christmas because MOST people 
celebrate it?

Personally, I think the war is going the other way. I think it's a 
war to institutionalize Christmas and other Christian holidays into 
the laws and public space of the United States - which I, and other 
founding fathers like Benjamin Franklin, believe is a direct assault 
on our traditions of separation of church and state, religious 
freedom and religious tolerance.

Let's remember that the original pledge of allegiance did not 
say "under God" -- this was added in the 1950s in the midst of the 
McCarthy era....

Susan