What's wrong with "Merry Christmas"?

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
> susanmcgee wrote:
> > 
> > > Why don't Christians simply embrace Yule as a pagan holiday, and
> wish everyone a blessed Yule? 
> > > 
> > > Why insist on imposing your religion and your version of the
> holidays on everyone?
> > 
> > Geoff:
> > Turning the question round, why don't non-Christians stop trying to
> change what is, even in its name, a Christian festival?
> > 
> > I, as a Christian, do not interfere in the festivals of other
> faiths; they have their high days and holidays. Certainly in the UK in
> recent years, there seems to have been a concerted attempt to
> undermine the high points of the Christian year such as Easter and
> Christmas although these are foundations of the way in which we live
> and in which our culture has developed.
> > 
> > I believe that if you were to go into several countries which have a
> culture based on other religions and suggest that you started
> insisting on wishing people a "Happy Christmas", you would get a far
> stronger reaction than you do here. You might well find yourself
> behind bars or worse.
> >
> Carol:
> 
> Right. Remember the teacher arrested and threatened with execution for
> allowing her students to name a teddy bear Mohammed? Anyone know what
> happened to her?
> 
> Carol, who sees fundamentalist Islam as much more oppressive and
> dangerous than any (modern) form of Christianity (no offense to
> moderate Muslims intended)

Geoff:
Precisely my point.

At my church I subscribe to a UK group called "Open Doors" who 
support, monitor and report on the 'Persecuted Church'. This is the 
name we use for churches in those countries where it is dangerous
to even mention that you are a Christian believer.

Every week, we receive reports of Christians who are ostracised and 
discriminated against; who are attacked verbally and physically and 
in a number of cases murdered; there are cases of groups who have 
been imprisoned on fabricated charges or even without trial - 
sometimes for years. For example, the goverment of Eritrea has come 
under criticism for locking Christians in groups into shipping containers 
and only allowing them out for an hour or so a day. Although many 
of these incidents are in Muslim countries (and I agree with your proviso 
above), there are also problem with Buddhist and Hindu governments 
and also, inevitably, the Chinese.

Hence, I like to feel that we can "own" our festivals without folk who are 
outside Christianity apparently trying to dilute our belief to suit their own 
taste. My apologies if that seems critical but that is how it often looks 
from my point of view.