The War On Christmas. Is that a real thing? And is it really a war against Jesus?

 Today,
our journey begins here.  

In reply, 
someone wrote:

"Unfortunately this was true at one point, and would still be if the people with common sense fighting back."

---
In reply, I said:

There's still no "war on Christmas".

Everyone can still say "Merry Christmas".

Christian fundamentalists still enjoy pretending to be oppressed."

[Note:
I made some other observations; offering many points of common ground.
However, Kelly didn't really want to talk about any of that.
So I've decided not to include it here] 

----
In reply, they said: 

"you apparently have forgotten when many companies forbid their employees from saying Merry Christmas, and when companies turned away from Merry Christmas and using the generic Happy Holidays. Apparently you missed our current Vice President and her speech on how terrible it was to say Merry Christmas because it was not inclusive. It is a reality that some folks dismiss. They want Christ erased at every turn. That is reality." ----
In further reply, 
I offer this:

Ok.
We can have that specific conversation.

You are correct that there are some companies which want their customer-side representatives to be more inclusive; to word their season's greetings with something that equally applies to people from all walks of life.

Do I think Hindus, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, various other anti-holiday fringe-Christian groups, or non-God-ists should be upset when someone says "Merry Christmas" on behalf of an American corporation?
Nah.
It's a trivial thing to be upset about.

In fact, realizing that such a thing is not intended as a way to *challenge* or *disrespect* anyone, ... is exactly why atheists don't care if someone says "God bless you" after they sneeze, or "Merry Christmas" after they buy something at the mall.

Although, it is an amazing irony when a Christian-fundamentalist (such as yourself) tries to make it into being such a challenge and disrespect. 

 That's ironic because it means anyone who ISN'T "hearing" it that way ... is actually being too charitable about your intentions.

 It means they don't even realize when people like you ARE using the phrase "Merry Christmas" as a "fuck you" to all non-Christians. 

It also means you WANT them to realize it.
And honestly, that's pretty fucked up. So I'm glad they don't realize it. 

Meanwhile, most non-Christians (the differently-religious and the non-religious) are walking around in public spaces WITHOUT any sense of need to have their private "thoughts about God" catered to.
 It's a healthy example that your religious-culture should seriously consider.

For example, the "line in the sand" most "atheists" draw about that is only based on setting healthy boundaries.

Just so long as no religion is trespassing on a non-believers life, they don't care what anyone else thinks. And they (most, at least) are very easy going about trivial utterances like "Merry Christmas" or "God bless you".

Only a very very insecure person is going to feel like such a thing is meant to leverage the speaker's world-view over theirs.

An emotionally healthy and mature adult goes through life "assuming the best of people" rather than assuming the worst.

In contrast, you assume the worst of everyone. 
But that's exactly what causes you to assume that they're assuming the worst about you too.
But they aren't. 
And neither should you. 

"Assuming the best" (of other people's intentions) is a form of social grace and charity which benefits everyone; including themselves.

It's also essential to Stoicism;
to make other people's headspace (even in response to how other people speak) .... "not my problem".

My point is merely: 
Live and let live.

As for how any of that relates to Christianity?
It's a delusion.

Have it.

Have it in every part of your life.
Enjoy it.
But you live in a glass house.
And against the advice of "Jesus", you are throwing stones.

So would I normally tell a delusional person that they're delusional?

 No. 

However, in this case, a delusional person went into a public space to insist that our society is beholden to their delusion. 


In fact, that's what your militant cult does every day to our government. 

Nobody's delusion is my problem, 
until they decide to make it my problem. 

That's when you forfeit your right to having it passively enabled. 

Meanwhile, if some OTHER Christian merely NOTICES this is happening, 
it's YOU they should be upset with;
not me.
Because you stepped into a public space, planting flags for your religion. 

If a company told all of their employees that they're supposed to say "Merry Christmas", and if their REASON for that is based on associating the term "Christmas" with any version of "Christianity", 
they'd be forcing their employees to endorse that religion.

That's a huge problem when most of those employees, and most of their customers 
 are not in your religion.
 
Feeling entitled for your religious-delusion to dominate everyone in a "melting pot" society ... is insecure, wastefully divisive, and petty.

If an Earthly Government shouldn't be telling private corporations (and those corporation's employees) how they must SPEAK in the public square,
then why should self-proclaimed agents of a Heavenly Government ... be telling every Corporation how their employees must speak in the public square?

Early colonists migrated here to escape being controlled "in the name of God".
Should we want to help re-create that problem here?

Because we tried that before.
It was called "Manifest Destiny"; also known as "the holocaust of the Indian Nations". 


Now, ironically, the only people who mentally associate Christmas with Christianity ... are people who were raised to make that mental association.

Nobody else really even notices the word "Christ" in "Christmas".
-Much the same way nobody notices the name Thor in "Thursday, Saturn in "Saturday", 

Janus in "January", etc.. 

 People mostly don't notice the various God-Lore in the names of our days and months. 
 
So if someone says "have a great day!" instead of "Have a great Thursday", they really aren't waging a war on the Greek pantheon of gods. 

 They aren't even thinking about it. 

 Although, I realize this is part of your concern.

You want everyone to make that mental association.

It helps your religion to keep "planting a flag of ownership" over a society, by planting those flags in as many facets of that's society's collective-consciousness as you can. 

That's the reason Christianity took over other religion's holidays.

That's what Christianity has always done.
They assimilate other culture's stuff, and then claim they invented it. 
And then they want to be thanked for it.

That, in turn, helps perpetuate a social-ecosystem where vulnerable minds are conditioned to be vulnerable to your influence.

That, in turn, helps recruit more members.

That, in turn, helps control social norms and legislation; via "strength in numbers". 

That, in turn, helps prevent your religious culture from dying out.

That, in turn, helps keep your very profitable grift running long enough for you to retire. 
-And then to hope your own children inherit Jesus as "the family business".

Modern-day money-changers like to live-well without actually having to do an honest day's work. 

That means that, as a member of a pretending-to-work class, you want to leverage the vulnerable exploitability of the actually-working-class, to help your class stay paid; 
-by forcing them, as a condition of their employment, to promote your mafia psy-op, clinically narcissistic, counterfactual, logically fallacious, psychologically violent, sexist, racist, grossly entitled, colonizing, gaslighting, mad-money, authoritarian grift. 

Fortunately for you, 
most people in America associate Christianity with good things. 

They're still buying into the lie that the only bad things any Christians ever do ... is in violation of Christianity, and therefor does not reflect on the true nature of Christianity. 

Likewise, some people still mentally associate Christianity with the joys of Christmas. 

Many of those people are so distracted with a warm-fuzzy impression of Christianity, 
that they're oblivious to what it's really all about. 

And yet, 
it's good business sense for a company to have their employees subtly convey the sentiment that "We're here to provide goods and services to people from all walks of life".
By saying "Happy Holidays", that's what they're doing.

They are marketing their company as "a friend to all".

Are those companies really our friends?
Nah. But it's a very effective platform for marketing.
And it does help society maintain a social atmosphere of mutually respectful inclusion.

They aren't trying negate or cancel "Christ".
They are merely allowing for America to be a place of mutual liberty.
This is why “E pluribus unum”  (“out of many, one”) is the official motto of the United States

And yet, somehow, you've managed to convince yourself that those corporations are oppressing you ... merely because they refuse to oppress and exploit the American workforce on your behalf. 

Congratulations.

With the help of a magical zombie carpenter,
...
who  intentionally got himself crucified
...
and then "forgave" the people he manipulated into doing it,
...

and on BEHALF of a "God" who
intentionally set the first two humans up to fail, 
...
so he could posture as the VICTIM of his own bad choices, 
and also
so he could posture as our savior from the fires he set in the first place, 
...
and who later offered to forgive us
FOR HOW HE MADE US,
... 
as an OFFER which only counts for people who mentally TRANSFER responsibility for their own failings onto an innocent scapegoat
 [because owning responsibility for one's own moral failings is apparently only something "wicked people" would do]
... 
which still only counts for people who surrender their lives to your church's control, 

... 
you each feel personally WRONGED by everyone who merely EXISTS outside of your (very profitable) control.
 

Meanwhile, your religion clings to magical and simplistic thinking.

As a result, you never really account for the "cause and effect" of your choices.

This is especially problematic when Christian Nationalists wield power in government,
because they don't actually understand how anything works;
 except for how to get around the laws and ethics everyone else is expected to uphold.  



When you push, 
people push back.

When they push back,
you feel attacked.

When your religion fails to abide by the same standards everyone else has to abide by,
people notice.

When they notice, 
you feel attacked. 

When they think, live, or love differently than you,
you feel attacked.

When they ignore you,
you feel attacked.

Your church has reached the maximum possible level of victimhood. 


But you don't need "the world" to help you enjoy it. 

If you need to hear someone say "Our religion is totally right and everyone else can go to hell", ... there's a special tax-payer subsidized building for that, in every neighborhood. Or you can just add your pastor to your speed-dial, in case of e(go)mergencies.

"Please don't let it go to voicemail.
Dammit.
Ok.
Hi, Pastor Bob.
This is Kelly again.
When you get a chance, please call me back.
Someone at the mall said "Happy Holidays" again. 
I'm feeling really triggered right now.
Please call me back right away. 
I really need to hear how special we are."