Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Christmas banned????

It seems that the Montgomery County, MD school district has removed religious holidays from its school calendar with the expected upset from the usual crowd.

What they seem to forget is that the war on Christmas began pretty much from the start of when it began to be celebrated in Roman times since most people knew that it was Saturnalia being repackaged.  Additionally, there has never really been any consensus as to what date would actually be that of Jesus' birth.  Anyway,  It wasn't until the Puritans came around and wanted to remove pagan influences from everyday life that the celebrations were muted down a whole lot:

That was the reason that George Washington attacked the Hessian forces in Trenton, NJ on Christmas Eve: It wasn't a holiday for the Continental soldiers. In fact, the US Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America’s new constitution. Gradually, some states made it a legal holiday with the first three states to make Christmas a legal holiday were in the South: Alabama in 1836, Louisiana and Arkansas in 1838. Christmas was finally proclaimed a holiday by the United States Congress in 1870: 81 years after the founding of the US.

The modern concept of Christmas appeared about the time Charles Dickens penned his "A Christmas Carol" in the 1840s and was helped along by Queen Victoria. Historian Stephen Nissenbaum contends that the modern celebration in the United States was developed in New York State from defunct and imagined Dutch and English traditions in order to refocus the holiday from one where groups of young men went from house to house demanding alcohol and food into one centered on the happiness of children.

The real problem with Christmas is that there are both secular and religious celebrations of the holiday with the addition that the two different parts of the Christian Church Eastern and Western celebrate the holiday a couple of weeks apart.  In fact, how many people actually know what exactly  is meant by the 12 Days of Christmas, let alone still celebrate them?  In fact, you could have a seriously long Christmas celebration if you wanted to begin with Advent and go to Candlemas. I've heard some celebrations begin with All Saints Day and go to Candlemas.

Maybe you get the picture here, or maybe you don't.  The bottom line is that the US has some serious decisions to make if they truly want to place "Christ in Christmas". 

Especially, since some Christian sects still don't see it as a Christian holiday.

Maybe the solution is to just take the Month of December off work.

12 comments:

  1. One more reason to get rid of government run indoctrination centers.

    orlin sellers

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  2. "That was the reason that George Washington attacked the Hessian forces in Trenton, NJ on Christmas Eve: It wasn't a holiday for the Continental soldiers. In fact, the US Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America’s new constitution."

    Silly Laci, soldiers are never guaranteed any days off, especially in a combat zone. And as for congress having to be in session, or removing it as a federal holiday, I'm cool with that too. Just get ready for the moaning and wailing from the federal employee unions when someone starts talking about removing one of their mandated days off.

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    1. The report I heard today was that they'll still be off for Christmas, they just won't call it Christmas any more. It's the Winter break.

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    2. The point seemed to be that the founders were not the Christian believers today's Christian believers claim they were. Another distortion of the founders beliefs just like the distortion of the founders intent of the 2nd A.

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    3. "Another distortion of the founders beliefs just like the distortion of the founders intent of the 2nd A. "

      Fortunately, we have a learned judicial body called the Supreme Court to determine that. And it works well for the most part, though its also representative of those of the era in which they live.
      Not too long ago, we discovered that a Supreme Court Chief Justice opposed gay rights. And we now are moving towards equality in that area.
      As a whole, the country is moving towards more individual rights, be it sexual orientation, speech, or gun rights.

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    4. Anonymous at 9:41:

      You sound just as stupid trying to generalize that most or all of the founders were not Christians as people sound would sound if they tried to claim that Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, or Benjamin Franklin were orthodox Christians.

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    5. You should read more anon they were deists.

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    6. "And it [the Supreme Court] works well for the most part, though its also representative of those of the era in which they live. "

      And in these decades the legal interpretation of the 2A has been bastardized beyond recognition.

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    7. "And in these decades the legal interpretation of the 2A has been bastardized beyond recognition."

      Some would likely say the same of other decisions depending on their area of concern. I wonder what cops said just after Miranda was decided.
      However, one of the things I've found about the process here is that while many might bitch and complain, everyone respects the decision. This is something you don't see in some other cultures.

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    8. Good citizens (unlike Kurt) respect and follow the law. If they don't like a law there are legal ways to change a law. That's why it's important to make things like gun safes, low capacity magazines, etc., the law. People might not like it, but law abiding citizens will follow the law, and that will save lives. If a law changes after being in effect for over a century, it's reasonable to look at why. Is the present court (who changed the law) correct, or were multiple courts over the past century that did not change the law correct?

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    9. "everyone respects the decision"

      Haven't you been reading Kurt's inflammatory comments about the need for civil disobedience?

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    10. Saying he will attack the government at gun point, is not civil disobedience, it's a criminal act. .

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