Quote:
Originally posted by Paul Stevens:
[B 'Merry Christmas' evokes a rich tradition both Christian and Pagan, of kindness, of good cheer, fellowship, renewal, feasting, birth and rebirth, light in darkness and so on and on, stretching way back into time. [/b]
|
Not so much, however, for Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, athiests, agnostics and all the rest of those many peoples who do not believe in Christ and therefore have a hard time finding good cheer, kindness, fellowship, renewal, birth, rebirth and lightness in people who insist on greeting them and treating them as if they should.
Perhaps, for them, "Merry Christmas" evokes nothing more than "Ha-Ha you're different and we, as Christians, don't give a damn if we spend the entire month of December and part of November making you aware of it each and every chance we get," whereas "Happy Holidays" would evoke more of the sort of good fellowship you're speaking about simply by virtue of not being so pointedly exclusive.
[This message has been edited by Laura Heidy-Halberstein (edited November 24, 2008).]