FWIW ... --- Dom 25/12/11, John Boyle <[email protected]> ha scritto: ... > To Dev: What is with this "HAPPY HOLIDAY" business? Christ > IS a PROVEN HISTORICAL PERSON, BY ATHEISTIC AND AGNOSTIC > SCIENTISTS, Jewish Historians and even Muslim historians, > so you cannot argue he did not! > SO WHY CAN'T THIS SEASON BE CALLED BY ITS HISTORIC NAME, > *MERRY CHRISTMAS and NOTHING LESS!!! I thought this list > was about OOo and NOT something Politically > sickening!!!!!>:o * >
Atheists are not really offended by "Merry Christmas": they cant be offended by someone they don't believe in, right?. I think the "Happy Holidays" thing became important after Sept. 11, when americans discovered the rest of the world is not necessarily Christian, and somehow they think that being more ambivalent in such things will save them from being so unpopular in the rest of the world. I am a practicing Catholic, and after some events in my personal life I became am an absolute believer, so while I recognize that Christmas nowadays has become something more related to spending money in presents that the religious festivity, for me a sincere "Merry Christmas" means a whole lot more than a "Happy Holidays". The choice of words does make a difference and at least I prefer if people say "Merry Christmas" but only if they are sincere about it. When I refer to a group of relatively unknown people (like in a mailinglist) I will probably use the "Happy Holidays" thing, and I will leave the Merry Christmas for people I know well and care about. So .. as I saw in "Saturday Night Live" a while ago, May you all have "Happy Holidays .... from Jesus" :). Pedro.
