Have we abolished Christmas?

[betsy]

10 hours ago, taxme said:

We can thank Donald Trump for that. Trump pretty much stated that Merry Christmas is back and now pretty much everyone is saying Merry Christmas again. Even our prime mistake on Christmas Day said Merry Christmas in his little speech on Christmas Day. I was shocked. Has this liberal lost his mind? It certainly looks like it to me. 

Prime mistake!   Hahahahaha I like that! 

[betsy]

13 hours ago, dialamah said:

Found a gift on my door this morning, a Christmas Card with "Merry Christmas" in big letters, from my hijab-wearing neighbor.   

I love your neighbor already.   

 

Quote

Perhaps she heard both stories and chose the the one she believes more closely reflects her faith.

 

  Perhaps she's now a hijab-wearing Christian?

Apparently, a lot of refugees in Toronto have been converting to Christianity (according to People's Church in Toronto)  Muslims included -  and some had gone back, and  going back to their motherland as missionaries!

Edited December 27, 2018 by betsy

[Michael Hardner]

Last word goes to our glorious and fiercely pro-CHRISTIAN PM !  

 

 

 

[cannuck]

10 hours ago, Rue said:

Yah but would  you know if some of your best friends were terrorists? Food for thought and why people like me never can sleep with their back turned from a window or door.

Something that people in general don't understand about at least the moderate version of Islam is that one of the strongest forces is the responsibility you have to Islam, to family and to genuine friends.  The first time I experienced that, we had been put through several tests (very subtly)  but my PhD in anthropology minder disagreed with me on what was really important in that process.  Our hosts could see that I was making certain we did the things that showed appropriate respect to not only THEIR obligations but OURS as well.  Once the ordeal ended (it included trips into places with a lot of people pointing AK47s at us) they continued to treat my minder with the respect that was due to a very senior member of a significant international organization, but he remained exactly in that status.   It became very clear to me that I had now entered a very exclusive inner circle of the "family" of our business associates.  From that point on, EVERY personal and business detail and thought was revealed and discussed - there were literally no secrets between us - as I was no expected to hold that same obligation of being responsible not only for the "niceties" of guests, but also the very life of my brothers and sisters.   The subtleties that Westerners just don't get is that once accepted you must assure that you NEVER put anyone in a position to embarrass themselves or especially their host - but to do so, you have to know 100% what anyone you encounter would find embarrassing.  It is hard to explain to someone who hasn't "been there", but it is extremely delicate balance of understanding the minutae of the culture and religion that might come naturally after a lifetime, but is pretty intense for some infidel coming from outside (such as myself).

So the short answer to that long reply is yes, I would know if any of my real friends were terrorists.   Brings up another point:  quite often Westerners mistake politeness in Islam for friendship.  They are just experiencing the whole business of not embarrassing a guest who is your responsibility - even if you find that guest the most vile and repulsive a-hole you have encountered.

Edited December 27, 2018 by cannuck

[eyeball]

21 hours ago, turningrite said:

1.) It might help your argument if you didn't make things up to justify your apparently inflammatory opinions. Simply observing that Christmas decorations are no longer put up in venues where they were once commonplace doesn't substantiate your world view. If you'd actually read and understood my comment, you'd see that I use the incident not to lament the loss of Christmas traditions but to encourage the adoption of secularism. We Westerners seem to be adapting quite well to our diminishing demographic and cultural dominance. It seems that many others, however, are quite insecure. Maybe you should read the comment posted by Canuck100 about an hour ago.

 

It would help if you paid better attention to what I was mocking, that cranky white people routinely discuss their racial/cultural angst with one another when confronted with their assimilation out in public.

 

Quote

2.) Secularism is the only effective antidote to religious chauvinism.

I suggest something very similar to chauvinistic nationalism, that we simply try to think about ourselves as Earthlings instead of defaulting to the usual dog's breakfast of identities we're forever compelled to adopt - family, tribe, religion, ideology etc etc.

Apparently this makes me akin to monsters who revel in imprisoning and killing millions.  Weird don't you think?

Quote

People can worship in whatever fashion they wish in private or in their own religious institutions. Otherwise, diversity requires a common public ethos in order to succeed and the only one available where religion is concerned is secularism. 

People should practice their xenophobias in the same way.  Public decency should suffice as reason why.

[eyeball]

21 hours ago, dialamah said:

Found a gift on my door this morning, a Christmas Card with "Merry Christmas" in big letters, from my hijab-wearing neighbor.   

If it had been one of the usual suspects who found that they would have called a bomb-squad.

[taxme]

10 hours ago, betsy said:

Prime mistake!   Hahahahaha I like that! 

Feel free to use it anytime you wish. Merry Christmas.  

[taxme]

1 hour ago, eyeball said:

If it had been one of the usual suspects who found that they would have called a bomb-squad.

I would have called the bomb squad. I guess those people do not listen to the news much if at all. Oh look honey a gift left by Imam Claus.  

[Argus]

7 hours ago, cannuck said:

  It became very clear to me that I had now entered a very exclusive inner circle of the "family" of our business associates.  From that point on, EVERY personal and business detail and thought was revealed and discussed - there were literally no secrets between us - as I was no expected to hold that same obligation of being responsible not only for the "niceties" of guests, but also the very life of my brothers and sisters.  

You said you are an ex-Muslim, did you not? Guilty of apostasy? Does that mean you shared a language, culture with them?

Also, did you really make it clear you were guilty of apostasy? That is a serious criminal offense in all Muslim states.

Edited December 27, 2018 by Argus

[cannuck]

5 hours ago, Argus said:

You said you are an ex-Muslim, did you not? Guilty of apostasy? Does that mean you shared a language, culture with them?

Also, did you really make it clear you were guilty of apostasy? That is a serious criminal offense in all Muslim states.

No, ex Christian.  My handler did the Arabic language, but my friends all speak flawless English.  As I said: no secrets.

[Argus]

14 hours ago, cannuck said:

No, ex Christian.  My handler did the Arabic language, but my friends all speak flawless English.  As I said: no secrets.

Being an ex Christian is not a crime in the Muslim world. In fact, Christians are encouraged to change faiths - to Islam of course. It is only doing the reverse that gets you beheaded.

[montgomery]

We don't have to abandon Christmas but we need to slowly start to draw away from the religious superstitious aspects it represents. And most important, we must be vigilant against allowing children's heads full of superstitious beliefs before those children are old enough to make their own decisions. Let's all face it folks, creationism has become 'pretend play' now in this 21st. century, and so is all the nonsense that goes with it.

But I suppose that Santa and Easter bunny are quite harmless as long as they aren't directly connected to superstitious beliefs. Just harmless sky fairies like Peter Pan and the rest of them. 

[cannuck]

On 1/1/2019 at 1:15 PM, montgomery said:

We don't have to abandon Christmas but we need to slowly start to draw away from the religious superstitious aspects it represents. And most important, we must be vigilant against allowing children's heads full of superstitious beliefs before those children are old enough to make their own decisions. Let's all face it folks, creationism has become 'pretend play' now in this 21st. century, and so is all the nonsense that goes with it.

But I suppose that Santa and Easter bunny are quite harmless as long as they aren't directly connected to superstitious beliefs. Just harmless sky fairies like Peter Pan and the rest of them. 

Finally, a post from you with which I can agree.

Merry Christmas.

[montgomery]

6 hours ago, cannuck said:

Finally, a post from you with which I can agree.

Merry Christmas.

Thanks, there's hope for you if you understand sky fairy  nonsense.