A Sincere Question about Secular Christmas

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure who your target audience is. I've literally never met anyone like this, with the "insisting".

+1 who in your life is insisting you do anything? Your spouse or family?

That’s a boundary issue, not a religious or holiday issue. You can enforce your boundaries without guilt.

"insisting"

Public schools insisted I color christmas trees and sing silent night when I was not a christian. In many places they still do this shit.

We had "Christmas break" when I was a kid and did a lot of Christmas crafts and songs in the weeks leading up to break. I remember when they made the switch to calling it "winter break" and how that change was mocked. But, ultimately, the semantics mattered and stuck and there is a lot more awareness these days of the diversity of the student body, so that my kids don't have to color Christmas trees at school. Normalizing the fact that other religions exist by closing for a handful of other holidays will make a difference over time. We just have to be patient.

Right -- and everyone celebrates New year's which is actually the Christian Feast of the circumcism, which I didn't know for years and I was raised Catholic!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure who your target audience is. I've literally never met anyone like this, with the "insisting".

+1 who in your life is insisting you do anything? Your spouse or family?

That’s a boundary issue, not a religious or holiday issue. You can enforce your boundaries without guilt.

"insisting"

Public schools insisted I color christmas trees and sing silent night when I was not a christian. In many places they still do this shit.

You had to color a Christmas tree in grade school and sing a Christmas song in music class and it still makes you angry?

Have you thought about hiring an attorney and seeking compensation for your damaged mental health from being forced to do these terrible things against your will? You were discriminated against by the state government. It’s possible you could also sue your classroom teacher, the music teacher, and the school district.

It’s inappropriate in a public. Christmas is a Christian holiday. Not everyone is Christian or Christian by background or birth. Shocker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spin-off from a deleted part of another thread where it was off-topic...

I completely understand the appeal of secular Christmas for cultural Christians (for lack of a better phrase). It's fun and the decorations are pretty and there is a lot of family tradition that can still be passed down without all the religious components for those who have left Christianity. Truly, I'm happy for everyone who finds meaning in this iteration of Christmas.

What I don't understand is the insistence that the rest of us should celebrate it too. I understand that it's secular for you. I understand that you don't understand why the rest of us still call it a Christian holiday when you've divorced so much of the religion from it. But still, why do you insist that we all understand it the way you do and push and push people to celebrate secular Christmas (and I don't mean inviting us to your Christmas party, but really pushing us to teach our kids about Santa and decorate our own houses, because it will be fun and, really, it's not about Jesus)? I don't care that it's fun or that it's not about Jesus; it's just not my holiday, and I have plenty of my own holidays. You can just have Christmas to yourself. I'll wish you a Merry Christmas on December 25 and everything.

No one cares what you do. Everyone makes their own choices for their family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spin-off from a deleted part of another thread where it was off-topic...

I completely understand the appeal of secular Christmas for cultural Christians (for lack of a better phrase). It's fun and the decorations are pretty and there is a lot of family tradition that can still be passed down without all the religious components for those who have left Christianity. Truly, I'm happy for everyone who finds meaning in this iteration of Christmas.

What I don't understand is the insistence that the rest of us should celebrate it too. I understand that it's secular for you. I understand that you don't understand why the rest of us still call it a Christian holiday when you've divorced so much of the religion from it. But still, why do you insist that we all understand it the way you do and push and push people to celebrate secular Christmas (and I don't mean inviting us to your Christmas party, but really pushing us to teach our kids about Santa and decorate our own houses, because it will be fun and, really, it's not about Jesus)? I don't care that it's fun or that it's not about Jesus; it's just not my holiday, and I have plenty of my own holidays. You can just have Christmas to yourself. I'll wish you a Merry Christmas on December 25 and everything.

No one cares what you do. Everyone makes their own choices for their family.

Not really -- lots of times people come on here specifically looking for advice on how to handle a situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spin-off from a deleted part of another thread where it was off-topic...

I completely understand the appeal of secular Christmas for cultural Christians (for lack of a better phrase). It's fun and the decorations are pretty and there is a lot of family tradition that can still be passed down without all the religious components for those who have left Christianity. Truly, I'm happy for everyone who finds meaning in this iteration of Christmas.

What I don't understand is the insistence that the rest of us should celebrate it too. I understand that it's secular for you. I understand that you don't understand why the rest of us still call it a Christian holiday when you've divorced so much of the religion from it. But still, why do you insist that we all understand it the way you do and push and push people to celebrate secular Christmas (and I don't mean inviting us to your Christmas party, but really pushing us to teach our kids about Santa and decorate our own houses, because it will be fun and, really, it's not about Jesus)? I don't care that it's fun or that it's not about Jesus; it's just not my holiday, and I have plenty of my own holidays. You can just have Christmas to yourself. I'll wish you a Merry Christmas on December 25 and everything.

No one cares what you do. Everyone makes their own choices for their family.

Not really -- lots of times people come on here specifically looking for advice on how to handle a situation.

There are people who are baffled that I don't celebrate Christmas, even after I tell them I'm Jewish. Like they don't see the incompatibility of the two things. And then they'll try to go on to convince me that I can celebrate it in a secular way, like it's some great loss for me and my family that we don't do Christmas, like we've just been looking for a way to do it and this person is going to make it ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spin-off from a deleted part of another thread where it was off-topic...

I completely understand the appeal of secular Christmas for cultural Christians (for lack of a better phrase). It's fun and the decorations are pretty and there is a lot of family tradition that can still be passed down without all the religious components for those who have left Christianity. Truly, I'm happy for everyone who finds meaning in this iteration of Christmas.

What I don't understand is the insistence that the rest of us should celebrate it too. I understand that it's secular for you. I understand that you don't understand why the rest of us still call it a Christian holiday when you've divorced so much of the religion from it. But still, why do you insist that we all understand it the way you do and push and push people to celebrate secular Christmas (and I don't mean inviting us to your Christmas party, but really pushing us to teach our kids about Santa and decorate our own houses, because it will be fun and, really, it's not about Jesus)? I don't care that it's fun or that it's not about Jesus; it's just not my holiday, and I have plenty of my own holidays. You can just have Christmas to yourself. I'll wish you a Merry Christmas on December 25 and everything.

No one cares what you do. Everyone makes their own choices for their family.

Not really -- lots of times people come on here specifically looking for advice on how to handle a situation.

There are people who are baffled that I don't celebrate Christmas, even after I tell them I'm Jewish. Like they don't see the incompatibility of the two things. And then they'll try to go on to convince me that I can celebrate it in a secular way, like it's some great loss for me and my family that we don't do Christmas, like we've just been looking for a way to do it and this person is going to make it ok.

A lot of Jews do celebrate Christmas in their own way. It's cultural - not religious - for many Cristians too. I suggest that you ease up about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spin-off from a deleted part of another thread where it was off-topic...

I completely understand the appeal of secular Christmas for cultural Christians (for lack of a better phrase). It's fun and the decorations are pretty and there is a lot of family tradition that can still be passed down without all the religious components for those who have left Christianity. Truly, I'm happy for everyone who finds meaning in this iteration of Christmas.

What I don't understand is the insistence that the rest of us should celebrate it too. I understand that it's secular for you. I understand that you don't understand why the rest of us still call it a Christian holiday when you've divorced so much of the religion from it. But still, why do you insist that we all understand it the way you do and push and push people to celebrate secular Christmas (and I don't mean inviting us to your Christmas party, but really pushing us to teach our kids about Santa and decorate our own houses, because it will be fun and, really, it's not about Jesus)? I don't care that it's fun or that it's not about Jesus; it's just not my holiday, and I have plenty of my own holidays. You can just have Christmas to yourself. I'll wish you a Merry Christmas on December 25 and everything.

No one cares what you do. Everyone makes their own choices for their family.

Not really -- lots of times people come on here specifically looking for advice on how to handle a situation.

There are people who are baffled that I don't celebrate Christmas, even after I tell them I'm Jewish. Like they don't see the incompatibility of the two things. And then they'll try to go on to convince me that I can celebrate it in a secular way, like it's some great loss for me and my family that we don't do Christmas, like we've just been looking for a way to do it and this person is going to make it ok.

A lot of Jews do celebrate Christmas in their own way. It's cultural - not religious - for many Cristians too. I suggest that you ease up about it.

I'm so tired of these outliers of Jews being trotted out as a reason the rest of us should set aside our Judaism and engage in Christmas. The Jews I know who celebrate Christmas do it because they have interfaith parents or are in an interfaith marriage themselves. In other words, they have a connection to Christianity that makes Christmas make sense for them. But regardless, individual Jews (or cultural Christians) making a personal choice to celebrate a cultural Christmas is not some kind of proof that it's compatible with Judaism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spin-off from a deleted part of another thread where it was off-topic...

I completely understand the appeal of secular Christmas for cultural Christians (for lack of a better phrase). It's fun and the decorations are pretty and there is a lot of family tradition that can still be passed down without all the religious components for those who have left Christianity. Truly, I'm happy for everyone who finds meaning in this iteration of Christmas.

What I don't understand is the insistence that the rest of us should celebrate it too. I understand that it's secular for you. I understand that you don't understand why the rest of us still call it a Christian holiday when you've divorced so much of the religion from it. But still, why do you insist that we all understand it the way you do and push and push people to celebrate secular Christmas (and I don't mean inviting us to your Christmas party, but really pushing us to teach our kids about Santa and decorate our own houses, because it will be fun and, really, it's not about Jesus)? I don't care that it's fun or that it's not about Jesus; it's just not my holiday, and I have plenty of my own holidays. You can just have Christmas to yourself. I'll wish you a Merry Christmas on December 25 and everything.

No one cares what you do. Everyone makes their own choices for their family.

Not really -- lots of times people come on here specifically looking for advice on how to handle a situation.

There are people who are baffled that I don't celebrate Christmas, even after I tell them I'm Jewish. Like they don't see the incompatibility of the two things. And then they'll try to go on to convince me that I can celebrate it in a secular way, like it's some great loss for me and my family that we don't do Christmas, like we've just been looking for a way to do it and this person is going to make it ok.

A lot of Jews do celebrate Christmas in their own way. It's cultural - not religious - for many Cristians too. I suggest that you ease up about it.

WTF? Stop shoving your crap down other people's throats.

Christmas should go away - it's over-commercialized and played out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure who your target audience is. I've literally never met anyone like this, with the "insisting".

+1 who in your life is insisting you do anything? Your spouse or family?

That’s a boundary issue, not a religious or holiday issue. You can enforce your boundaries without guilt.

"insisting"

Public schools insisted I color christmas trees and sing silent night when I was not a christian. In many places they still do this shit.

You had to color a Christmas tree in grade school and sing a Christmas song in music class and it still makes you angry?

Have you thought about hiring an attorney and seeking compensation for your damaged mental health from being forced to do these terrible things against your will? You were discriminated against by the state government. It’s possible you could also sue your classroom teacher, the music teacher, and the school district.

It’s inappropriate in a public school. Christmas is a Christian holiday. Not everyone is Christian or Christian by background or birth. Shocker.

+1

I'm glad our kids' school is low key about the whole holiday season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure who your target audience is. I've literally never met anyone like this, with the "insisting".

+1 who in your life is insisting you do anything? Your spouse or family?

That’s a boundary issue, not a religious or holiday issue. You can enforce your boundaries without guilt.

"insisting"

Public schools insisted I color christmas trees and sing silent night when I was not a christian. In many places they still do this shit.

You had to color a Christmas tree in grade school and sing a Christmas song in music class and it still makes you angry?

Have you thought about hiring an attorney and seeking compensation for your damaged mental health from being forced to do these terrible things against your will? You were discriminated against by the state government. It’s possible you could also sue your classroom teacher, the music teacher, and the school district.

It’s inappropriate in a public school. Christmas is a Christian holiday. Not everyone is Christian or Christian by background or birth. Shocker.

+1

I'm glad our kids' school is low key about the whole holiday season.

+1 My kids' school teaches songs about snow and does arts and crafts of snowflakes and snowmen. Nobody is missing out on the "Christmas spirit" of the season just because they're not coloring a picture of Santa at school. They're more than making up for it at home and everywhere else with Christmas carols in all the stores and decorations/trees in all the town squares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure who your target audience is. I've literally never met anyone like this, with the "insisting".

+1 who in your life is insisting you do anything? Your spouse or family?

That’s a boundary issue, not a religious or holiday issue. You can enforce your boundaries without guilt.

"insisting"

Public schools insisted I color christmas trees and sing silent night when I was not a christian. In many places they still do this shit.

You had to color a Christmas tree in grade school and sing a Christmas song in music class and it still makes you angry?

Have you thought about hiring an attorney and seeking compensation for your damaged mental health from being forced to do these terrible things against your will? You were discriminated against by the state government. It’s possible you could also sue your classroom teacher, the music teacher, and the school district.

It’s inappropriate in a public school. Christmas is a Christian holiday. Not everyone is Christian or Christian by background or birth. Shocker.

+1

I'm glad our kids' school is low key about the whole holiday season.

+1 My kids' school teaches songs about snow and does arts and crafts of snowflakes and snowmen. Nobody is missing out on the "Christmas spirit" of the season just because they're not coloring a picture of Santa at school. They're more than making up for it at home and everywhere else with Christmas carols in all the stores and decorations/trees in all the town squares.

Different people celebrate different holidays. Public schools need to figure out how to handle it. Personally, I think teaching about different holidays is a learning opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spin-off from a deleted part of another thread where it was off-topic...

I completely understand the appeal of secular Christmas for cultural Christians (for lack of a better phrase). It's fun and the decorations are pretty and there is a lot of family tradition that can still be passed down without all the religious components for those who have left Christianity. Truly, I'm happy for everyone who finds meaning in this iteration of Christmas.

What I don't understand is the insistence that the rest of us should celebrate it too. I understand that it's secular for you. I understand that you don't understand why the rest of us still call it a Christian holiday when you've divorced so much of the religion from it. But still, why do you insist that we all understand it the way you do and push and push people to celebrate secular Christmas (and I don't mean inviting us to your Christmas party, but really pushing us to teach our kids about Santa and decorate our own houses, because it will be fun and, really, it's not about Jesus)? I don't care that it's fun or that it's not about Jesus; it's just not my holiday, and I have plenty of my own holidays. You can just have Christmas to yourself. I'll wish you a Merry Christmas on December 25 and everything.

No one cares what you do. Everyone makes their own choices for their family.

Not really -- lots of times people come on here specifically looking for advice on how to handle a situation.

There are people who are baffled that I don't celebrate Christmas, even after I tell them I'm Jewish. Like they don't see the incompatibility of the two things. And then they'll try to go on to convince me that I can celebrate it in a secular way, like it's some great loss for me and my family that we don't do Christmas, like we've just been looking for a way to do it and this person is going to make it ok.

A lot of Jews do celebrate Christmas in their own way. It's cultural - not religious - for many Cristians too. I suggest that you ease up about it.

WTF? Stop shoving your crap down other people's throats.

Christmas should go away - it's over-commercialized and played out.

Could be that pp doesn't see it as crap. As they said, it's cultural and not religious for many Christians too. To me, it's getting back to its pagan roots -- all about celebrating in the darkest days of winter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spin-off from a deleted part of another thread where it was off-topic...

I completely understand the appeal of secular Christmas for cultural Christians (for lack of a better phrase). It's fun and the decorations are pretty and there is a lot of family tradition that can still be passed down without all the religious components for those who have left Christianity. Truly, I'm happy for everyone who finds meaning in this iteration of Christmas.

What I don't understand is the insistence that the rest of us should celebrate it too. I understand that it's secular for you. I understand that you don't understand why the rest of us still call it a Christian holiday when you've divorced so much of the religion from it. But still, why do you insist that we all understand it the way you do and push and push people to celebrate secular Christmas (and I don't mean inviting us to your Christmas party, but really pushing us to teach our kids about Santa and decorate our own houses, because it will be fun and, really, it's not about Jesus)? I don't care that it's fun or that it's not about Jesus; it's just not my holiday, and I have plenty of my own holidays. You can just have Christmas to yourself. I'll wish you a Merry Christmas on December 25 and everything.

No one cares what you do. Everyone makes their own choices for their family.

Not really -- lots of times people come on here specifically looking for advice on how to handle a situation.

There are people who are baffled that I don't celebrate Christmas, even after I tell them I'm Jewish. Like they don't see the incompatibility of the two things. And then they'll try to go on to convince me that I can celebrate it in a secular way, like it's some great loss for me and my family that we don't do Christmas, like we've just been looking for a way to do it and this person is going to make it ok.

A lot of Jews do celebrate Christmas in their own way. It's cultural - not religious - for many Cristians too. I suggest that you ease up about it.

WTF? Stop shoving your crap down other people's throats.

Christmas should go away - it's over-commercialized and played out.

Could be that pp doesn't see it as crap. As they said, it's cultural and not religious for many Christians too. To me, it's getting back to its pagan roots -- all about celebrating in the darkest days of winter.

That is the issue. People making assumptions about what other people want to experience.

Just because you enjoy something doesn't mean it should be forced on everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spin-off from a deleted part of another thread where it was off-topic...

I completely understand the appeal of secular Christmas for cultural Christians (for lack of a better phrase). It's fun and the decorations are pretty and there is a lot of family tradition that can still be passed down without all the religious components for those who have left Christianity. Truly, I'm happy for everyone who finds meaning in this iteration of Christmas.

What I don't understand is the insistence that the rest of us should celebrate it too. I understand that it's secular for you. I understand that you don't understand why the rest of us still call it a Christian holiday when you've divorced so much of the religion from it. But still, why do you insist that we all understand it the way you do and push and push people to celebrate secular Christmas (and I don't mean inviting us to your Christmas party, but really pushing us to teach our kids about Santa and decorate our own houses, because it will be fun and, really, it's not about Jesus)? I don't care that it's fun or that it's not about Jesus; it's just not my holiday, and I have plenty of my own holidays. You can just have Christmas to yourself. I'll wish you a Merry Christmas on December 25 and everything.

No one cares what you do. Everyone makes their own choices for their family.

Not really -- lots of times people come on here specifically looking for advice on how to handle a situation.

There are people who are baffled that I don't celebrate Christmas, even after I tell them I'm Jewish. Like they don't see the incompatibility of the two things. And then they'll try to go on to convince me that I can celebrate it in a secular way, like it's some great loss for me and my family that we don't do Christmas, like we've just been looking for a way to do it and this person is going to make it ok.

A lot of Jews do celebrate Christmas in their own way. It's cultural - not religious - for many Cristians too. I suggest that you ease up about it.

WTF? Stop shoving your crap down other people's throats.

Christmas should go away - it's over-commercialized and played out.

Could be that pp doesn't see it as crap. As they said, it's cultural and not religious for many Christians too. To me, it's getting back to its pagan roots -- all about celebrating in the darkest days of winter.

That is the issue. People making assumptions about what other people want to experience.

Just because you enjoy something doesn't mean it should be forced on everyone else.

I strongly suggest that you give it up. Celebrate whatever holidays you want to and realize that you're living in a country with majority Christian roots, which often celebrates holidays without religious overtones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure who your target audience is. I've literally never met anyone like this, with the "insisting".

+1 who in your life is insisting you do anything? Your spouse or family?

That’s a boundary issue, not a religious or holiday issue. You can enforce your boundaries without guilt.

"insisting"

Public schools insisted I color christmas trees and sing silent night when I was not a christian. In many places they still do this shit.

You had to color a Christmas tree in grade school and sing a Christmas song in music class and it still makes you angry?

Have you thought about hiring an attorney and seeking compensation for your damaged mental health from being forced to do these terrible things against your will? You were discriminated against by the state government. It’s possible you could also sue your classroom teacher, the music teacher, and the school district.

It’s inappropriate in a public school. Christmas is a Christian holiday. Not everyone is Christian or Christian by background or birth. Shocker.

+1

I'm glad our kids' school is low key about the whole holiday season.

+1 My kids' school teaches songs about snow and does arts and crafts of snowflakes and snowmen. Nobody is missing out on the "Christmas spirit" of the season just because they're not coloring a picture of Santa at school. They're more than making up for it at home and everywhere else with Christmas carols in all the stores and decorations/trees in all the town squares.

Different people celebrate different holidays. Public schools need to figure out how to handle it. Personally, I think teaching about different holidays is a learning opportunity.

Teaching about different holidays is different than celebrating them. I think my kid's elementary school actually does a good job of teaching without celebrating. They read books about different holidays during story time and do comparative learning units about different holiday traditions. But they don't decorate their classroom with Christmas trees or have a class elf.