What's wrong with "Merry Christmas"?

[dumbledore11214]

> Magpie:
> Absolutely--the spirit in which they are offered are key. If 
somebody 
> is thoughtfully and genuinely wishing you a holiday because they 
> think it's a nice thing to do, it should be taken that way. If you 
> want to also mention for the future that you don't actually 
celebrate 
> Christmas that can be fine too and done without being rude. Or 
else 
> you might just accept the greeting and not feel the need to do 
that. 
> Similarly "Happy Holidays" offered as a genuine greeting that's 
> supposed to be inclusive in case the person doesn't celebrate 
> Christian should be taken in the proper spirit too.

Alla:

I would NEVER tell a stranger that I do not celebrate Christmas. I 
would smile and thank him. Even if it is not wished in proper 
spirit, I would assume one.

I ask for more from friends only. Now I myself do not wish strangers 
Merry Christmas unless I know for sure they celebrate it, but I 
would never demand from them the same.


Magpie: 
> Conversely, if part of the spirit of "merry Christmas" is that 
nobody 
> should ever have to think about anything but the "real" holiday, 
or 
> the "real" American/Australian/religious/English holiday or 
whatever, 
> of if the spirit is "I'm oppressed and I'm fighting back by 
> aggressively wishing merry Christmas no matter what you 
> celebrate"...then that should be taken in the proper spirit too. 
> Which is that the person is kind of a jerk.


Alla:

YES.


Magpie:
You can put a Nativity scene up in public--on your lawn where people
can see it or in front of a church as far as I know. If somebody
vandalizes it they're the one's breaking the law. There are,
unfortunately, probably examples of every kind of decoration being
vandalized. The vandalizing of a Nativity scene doesn't necessarily
have anything to do with religious persecution. In my home town
somebody vandalized somebody's decorations, just tearing all the
lights down. Totally shitty thing to do, but not religiously
motivated, I don't think. Still if it is religiously motivated it's
wrong, but I haven't heard of that happening so often.


Alla:

Well, sure there are examples, what I am disputing is the regularity 
of this happening. I would even assume that there are bastards who 
do that for religious reasons, but as I said, I doubt that this is 
happening oh so very often in the US to qualify as oppression AND as 
you said they are the ones who breaking the law there.